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THE CROWN . te
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_ ARMSTRONG,. s,, HEAES, BRAY, IVEN S, J OHNS, '-
wee PRITCHARD, AND - QUEEN
(R. B. Russe | was tried previously)
“Indicted for Seditious Sonspiracy and Common Nuisaneé,
Fall Assizes, “Winnipeg, Manitoba, . Canada,
-. f Agtg-1g920 7%. a
. . . ous . ar toe .
Prepared by ‘the Defense Committee, 220.Bannatyne Ave. composed of
. Delegates from the various Labor Organizations in
, Winnipeg, Manitoba
<€SG~° Wallingford Press, 283 Kennedy Bt,
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_ “2 > 27-2. WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS. <> f... 0.
"+ William’ A. Pritchard” © 0-0):
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as ~ os ‘
, My Lord, ‘and. Gentlemen of the BS ury:
oo. of -which have -been taken up by the learned counsel for ;
- the Crown in an effort to build up a case. We.have been ~
_interested—-I am sure I have; and you-have also been very
.. patient. I am going to ask you .to extend that Patience, as
“THE KING.¥. WM-IVENS, et al 9°
- ame Se eit ier Hat Henan
7 ‘
WILLIAM A PRITCHARD 5.
_ ADDRESS: ‘TO JURY. ~.
- You ‘and I have sat here now Jury oe nine’ weeks, eight -~
I know-you will,.for-just a little time’ ‘longer. ~
- After the Crown had .completed' its case, we came fo -
the conclusion that it was unnecessary for us to call any “
’ witnesses; because we considered that from the one, thous-'
and and ten.exhibits put in by the:Crown itself, we could .|. °°
’ build up a ‘defense, without going to the extra ‘trouble of
. -ealling witnesses. We have been twitted by the learned and... ~
-. distinguished ‘counsel for. the Crown because. we have not
. #@alled a defense, and because. we have not’ contradicted this:
' .or that or-the other., I-want to tell-you, gentlemen, that. if:
we had ever décided to bring a rebuttal. to. this point, to ~
that-point,.and to other point, insofar as I am myself. con-
cerned, I would not have rested until a coniplete. febuttal —
“had, been made to every point claimed’ by the Cro .
Ifthe object of the Defense:were to smash entirely the
' . position taken by..the Crown it could-be done, and: in-my
' own. mind I rest assured that-the historian of the future
_' will drive.the knife of critical research into the very” ‘..
‘bowels of the bogey-that has been, conjured forth out of: .'
the imagination of -certain legal luminaries of this city;
"and placing everything in its propér-position will appreci- _
ho ‘ate at their worth each fact, and’ each factor; and will
| a, WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS:
. appreciate at their proper. worth all those persons who have
become part and parcel of what Has been conceded by gentle- ~
:men of both sides, to be the greatest case in. the history, of
. Canada.
-I would ask for your patience, I mow that i will recsive->
“it. _I_want_here tol ster my. coraplimonts to_the-leadiae
spokesman for the Crown, for the excellence of the address
_ that he ga’ve to you, gentlemen of the jury.. I appreciate a, : mA
piece of craftsmanship, I admire the lines, for instance, of a.
beautiful horse. I like in my own little crude way to appre- .
‘ciate the works of a great craftsman, and I.compli iment my *
Jearned friend Mr. Andrews upon hig abby constructed, close-
ly reasoned, and excellently presented address,- But I want
“14 te say: here that-.if half the attention had been ‘paid to the
foundation ‘as was: apparently given to the superstruct:’
ure, that possibly. history would have recorded that a
great oratorical edifice had been builded. To my mind that
‘old dream of the ancient prophet comes back;-of the image ”
_ withthe head of gold, with the shoulders and arms and
torso of silver, with the thighs and legs of. brass, .and the
feet of clay, and ito my mind that fits in with the presenta-
, : tion of the case‘as summed up by the. learned counsel for .
° . the Crown in. his address to the jury..
’ Now, there are others -who “have looked. into ‘the éase _
and who ‘have given you their opinions. Mr. Trueman, for -
instance, likened this case to the imaginary kilamiazoo. My -
‘learned, colleague, Mr. ‘Queen, took you: back over fifteen
oO years’ ‘of the reign of tyranny in Russia, and likened -this. ”
v»», ease to similar cases in that country, and:told you ,jhow the
flower of that country Had been for years sent outyto- the.
desert wastes of Siberia, and to the dungeons ofe Mr.
McMurray seemed to think that the case reminded him. of
» the Irishman who caught the wild. cat.
All these impressions may carry their point, but recogniz- .
ing, as I stand kere before you, that I am involved in this - -
matter, I looked at this thing and attempting to analyse it
from every possible angle, my.mind “went back over the
reaches of history and ¢ould find only one parallel for what
has transpired in Canada during , the last few months. My
mind went. back to the triumvirate at Rome, to.the days
of wholesale proscriptions; 0 ‘the days: of the- hounding of ©
political opponents. . we
As I stand ‘here before you in this court, my mind’
travels to the. Mth of Febraary, in the year 1600, when .
“partonanbis ADDRESS: "TO gory a
» Giordano ‘Bruno offered his life, bound to the stake in the.
- . + flower market of: Rome,: because of his scientific analysis ~
- of the then known world ; ‘because he followed his.intellec-
* tual master Copernicus, and had declared in certain. writ- -
; - ings that the universe was not geocentric; that the’ earth 2S
Was not: the-centré of this solar system, but the sun. Of. —~
_ course, he had taken: these findings of his and lévelled them - -
against the ‘superstition and ignorance of his day, and be- ~
‘ cause of that fact we find him bound to a stake-on thé 17th . .
. February, in the year 1600, in the flower market at Rome.
| On June 22nd, 1683, we find Galileo, because of his age ~ -
an and his infirmities, recanting in front of the authority of
. _ the State and the Church, from opinions which he knew to
_ be perfectly correct. “He had exploded. the theory. ‘of Aris- -
-- totle concerning falling bodies. He was master. of physics
- at that time, not only from the mathematical .standpeint,
” -but by demonstration had proven. his position:to be correct. . -
And:the power of the Church. and State was placed upon
the neck of Galileo until he himself rebelled. Today. the -
_ name of Galileo is given forth in our schools as a master of —-.
“ mathematics and physics, while the names of his prosecutors."
” and his traducers are known. only to a few who delve int nr
“history. ~- ..
- «We have heard something of poison in this court. A
very apt analogy! There was. a certain_ writer. who said
‘that every analogy must fall short, ‘every analogy is poor
and must only be used when scientific argument fails: And
. the analogy used by my learned friend Mr. Andrews is the _ . -
‘poorest of the poor. He told you, with a voice ringing with 1
indignation, about poison. You could go to the drug stores...
aaéet
and’ get poison ; ‘and he referred to certain pieces of liter- .
’ ature as poison. What really.is the situation, gentlemen?
In every medicine there is poison; in every food there is ,
poison, and this is one of the contradictions that exist today . _-
. in the-world. A contradiction is not necessarily an absurd-
’ ity. And what have our friends of the. opposition done?
What have they done? They have collected here a mass of .
- correspondence-from people all over the world to people all
‘ over the world. They have sent their agents from the Atlan-
‘tie seaboard to the Pacific slope. They have dusted out
every cobwebbed corner of every shack of every working-
-.man whom they’ considered suspect. ‘They have sent their”
agents to dive: into every ash-barrel that: ¢xists in. the
. a ‘Dominion of Canada, and a they: have sdragged forth a a bat.
aso
3 . . . Coe
6 mee WONNIPEG. STRIKE TRIALS. ae wo
talion ‘of documents of: various kinds. Hid I the time, gentle- 2
- men, I could go through every one of those documents and
show the hopeless position that ‘the: Crown’ have -placed- - -
themselves ‘in. From this mass.of documents, from this / -:
collection of correspondence, ‘pieces from speeches given DY. Lo,
° ~~ Beople whom we don’t-know; in places: where-we-have-never—
: been, and the circumstances ‘of which we have no nowledge,:
_being brought in-here as evidence against. us; and out of .
“that mass of documents, out of that mass of correspondence,
’.my learned friends have gone with the microscope and the .-
_ = gurgical-knife and they have carved out.terms, “red,” “bole ~~.
‘shevik,” “industrials,” “socialism,” ‘“evolttion,” “revolue ;
_ tion,” “proletarian,” “pourgecisie,” etc. You’ see these, are
- the. little pieces of Poison. -
-_-I can. imagine away back in the. painful. days of last
-’ Fall, my learned friend Mr. Pitblado gathering these choice « ~~
collections and‘ ‘saying to Mr. Andrews: “Look what I have .* .-_
found.” You remember.old-Archimedes as he‘ stepped in the :
‘bath suddenly discovered'the means of detecting a flaw in’
- the’ purported gold crown, .and ‘he forgot himself, and rush-..
ing home through the streetsxnaked,he cried: “Eureka!
-- Eureka !”——I have found it. And in my mind’ s eye, I can see. .
‘Dr. Pitblado rushing around’the corridors’ of this institution “--**
' _? erying:. “Eureka! Eureka! Ihave found it.” .And.suddenly — ~~
my learned friend Mr. Andrews comes around the corner. °°
‘and says: “What have you: got?” and Dr. Pitblado ‘says:
« “Here it is, here it is, here is the.conhection,” and .théy put -
‘it’in the bottle, and upon the face of that you can see.“
’ written in a and. that no one can deny: “Shake well before _
‘giving to the jury.” s
“+. . “Take the poison out of your food.” Yes, take the -
. ‘spirit out of your:potatoes and you get Irish Whiskey ; take ,
the spirit out of corn and you can make Bourbon. I have ©
_known people to try to make whiskey out of -potatoes, and’
’.they finished up by,making Sam Suey. It looks as if.my |: «=:
' friends: tried to make a case -out, but they finished ‘up by
making a-bottle.full of Chinese suey. :
I have studied my Jearned friends for. the last eight or:
; ‘nine weeks. I never had the’pleasure of meeting Mr. An- -
drews before I came into court’at the preliminary hearing. is
I can easily forgive Mr..Andrews for having mixed up his.
bottle of medicine upon me. I am not a vindictive kind of -
chap, and-I can éasily forgive him. But do. you know, gentle--
men, I am‘not'so charitably inclined towards Dr. Pitblado. a
- Pad . . . os no a
gor
_-PRITCHARD'S apbREss To JURY _ wv woe
: To me he: appears to be educated somewhat, aod ought to:
have known better.
Cee -Then we ‘come to the indictment. ° Ti: am not going to go?
\° -. through that indictment and tell you what it,.is.as a legal
= instrument. I have seen-so-many- yon elleus plea ot hawt a
se /drawn-up. I am capable of understanding English, to the-
a ’ extent-of the authors, but I have seen so many mysterious
. + -, documents dragged forth from the-intermost recesses of. the |
. legal-mind—they ‘talk about:a Philadelphia lawyer—why a :*.
_ regiment of Philadelphia lawyers could not decipher! some oe
_“*Jegal documents. In fact, ‘honorable: profession as it is, the~
- »Jegal profession exists for the purpose of having one side ~
..- make up;‘legal documents .so-that the other side can come .:
2. >. along. and tear them to pieces: This indictment; has. been’
-. ..% held to be a good piece of Law. It may beso. It may be-so.-
, '. "There ‘are six counts in it, and those six, ‘counts set: out ~
’. what they call ‘seditious conspiracy in’ six “differént WAYS:' ;
_ They must have run short of. material ‘when. they came to
_ the end. of-the sixth count, and carrying | an imaginary man-'
_ eating, snake-devouring Kilamazoo in their little legal bag,.
'_.. they said: “Now -what shall we do? These fellows may be
. all right. ‘They may. be-able to: produce: their bona: fides: : 7
“-.J£ they do.they: will get from out of our:grip—what shall 3
-we do'then.” -A bright idea: struck one of:the members of
.. the Crown counsel for the Citizens’ Committee, and He’ said:
’ “I will tell you, we can never allow the Kilamazoo té-run *
-. -around without a tail,” so they brought out ‘the seventh _
- count and they said: “We ‘will indict them for*common: _°
woe nuisance, we. will put that tail on the. Kilamazoo. to balance... —_
no . it up.’ are
“Mr. Andrews ‘said: “The defense: “have not ‘called. any.
-' ‘evidence. .The matter before you is.going to be:simple. You.:
- = will only have to-take.the evidence which has been given. . _
_.... from that. box.” I.am willing to do. that,.and F trust, with - a
.»” .' ++ the assistance of His Lordship, I will keep 2 little. closer to.
“<.’. “the evidence: that came’ from that .box than my- learned —
' friend Mr. Andrews appeared to be capable ofy-doing; ‘so.
_. that for the purpose of my own defense I shall be. limited - =:
- . ..to the evidence that.came from that box and the evidence - a ; a
. that was, given to you by the: learned and distinguished "'
, counsel for the Crown. .
It is a peculiar position. Arrested on a charge of incit-
_ing to disaffection in the months of May and June, 1919.
a Preliminary’ hearing, remand, remand, remand. Why? Why"
“ NOTE—For Kilamazoo story see end “ot hook... . . _
Hw
Boo. WINNIPEG ‘STRIKE TRIALS :
eee ae UL EES
ol
the vemands? ?. if there were 2 ‘reason existing for the arrest
in the first place, gentlemen, why: the:continued remands? --
That is the history of this case. I will tell you why... . They
'. wanted to mix-the bottle” of medicine. And they. have
mixed it; pretty good. we are here to unmix ite I want .
-to_tell_you ‘this,-gentlem, n,-speaking with-a— knowledge-of—
‘the facts as they apply t) me, whether or not we can‘unmix.
that bottle of.medicine; to your satisfaction, and to “the .
satisfaction of this-court\ just so sure as I stand here before
_you, I-know this, that I shall unmix that bgttle of medicine.
--to the satisfaction of histo _ Whether ¢ oy not -we be -vindi-
cated: in this court, we shall vigdi
- time-by history. I want to tell. you that { had never looked ~
for any such distinction as this. I had rx hoped that.
ted in’ process of .. ~
_my poor modest name could have been linked with the name _
of Milton; with the name of Galileo; with the:names of all
those illustrious men of the past, who fought superstition’ -
and darkness wherever it existed;“who took the brodm of |
, ‘scientific investigation and swept up the cobwebs of super-
5 ‘gstition and ignorance. Iam going to‘do my best to go ‘into ;
_those facts and prove them to you first by the,Crown Wit-".
“nesses.. But Iam placed in this position: I have told you how
‘these exhibits came-to.be here.. You. know that. -You know~- - -
- how they came to be here.. From the original charge of May — -
| and June, 1919, the thing has been stretched. The Kilamazoo
* eould not jump far enough, so they put some of their choice
medicine into itand gave it a shock so that it would jump-
a little further, and they have tried to make. it jump over.
_ the years 1917, 1918, 1919. Then we asked-for some par-
.ticulars. If you read those particulars. for a little while,
gentlemen, you will find that the Crown counsel. stopped
. short. They might have gone further as they worked back in . _
their brief; they could easily ‘have gone to the days when
"- Horace Greeley. was editor of the New York Tribune; they
mitht have taken you back to the days of William Morris;. .
. to the days of the Chartist movement, and come down.
through those days of anti-combination laws, or gone back -
further to the days prior to the French Revolution.’.Aye!
‘and. they. could have taken you to Sir Thomas More’ Ss.
“Utopia.” .
I don’t know whether my feelings were hurt. or not. |
My feelings are getting to be such that I am not’so sus-
- ceptible as I used to be when I was a young fellow. -When
.. the learned counsel for the Crown turned around and said:
ee 7 ‘ ea ra
7 7 PRITCHARD'S. ADDRESS TO TORY og
- “Gentlémen; you will s see e the paucity" ‘of originality i in these” 2
men”—said it twice.” “Paucity of. originality.” Does my
‘learned friend really know what: he is talking about? Does
‘he not-know that- everyone of -us, you and I, have nothing .-:
original about us; that we are, everyone, products of’a long «.
—Hine-of- historical- development; and-that-whatever-knowledge—
I may possess I can.trace it back through a long develop- |
. ment ‘which. takés me into the literature and culture
". and thé science of ancient Egypt; to the Hanging: Gardens...
of Babylon, to the Colonnades of Greece, and to the gran-
J deur that was Rome.. And that for anything that I-may ..
: know now insofar as‘ mathematics are concerned I go to.
~ Euclid; to Archimedes, and to many other ancients. As I gos:
‘into my own library I stand face to face with the burning” 0!
the. Serapion - library at Alexandria. The history of the’
. development of scientific thought has been the burning of
- books,-and the destruction of libraries here and destruction -
of libraries there. And they thought if they‘ could only tie’
Bruno to the stake then the earth’ would not £0 arofind the
sun any ‘more. ~~ ~
“You remember how: Galileo, when he heard that the
; Dutchman. Lippershey had inverted: a telescope which
- brought’ the heavenly bodies: closer to the eye;° you re-
member -just as soon as.he heard there was such an-in- ©
strument, his knowledge of physics. led him to’ construct
‘one for himself although he had never seen Lippférshey’s, ;
‘-and as-he looked through the, telescope he. saw something
which the naked eye- could not distinguish.. There were
thousands of people trusting to. their own eyesight. You
say: “I can believe my own eyes.” They believed their own -
-.. eyes, and ‘they said Jupiter hadn’t any moons.-.He: said.
. Jupiter had four moons. And the lawyers of that day came |
‘-.down and they said: If Jupiter has four moons Galileo must
u have made them himself and stuck them into his telescope.
' . .” “When Pritchard comes along and, out of the paucity of
knowledge. whiche he: may possess, drives. the ‘knife. of: re-
. search into our economic life, and with his little knowledge -
- of economics tells you that the industrial situation today has ,
. developed to that point; -has become so intense; has become
so complex; its mechanism hag. grown to such a degree that.
no longer’ can industry guarantee a living’ wage to all .
its workers and at the same time guarantee interest upon .
bonds. When he tells you that,.and when he says, gentle-""
. men: “Took at the British * Pound sterling on the New York
"10 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS ~
* “Exchange down to 3.64,.and has even touched, a-few weeks ~
ago, 3.19”—-what does Pritchard mean when he says that?
Pritchard must have put it into his telescope. Is that the -
language of the distinguished gentlemen belonging to the
honourable legal profession talking about the paucity of ---
‘originality ? . = vA
I must get on. Iam placed i in the position where I have .
to defend the history and literature of two movements.
‘When you look through the address giveri by the Crown, .
you will see that I do-not have to offer_a_defense—I_would-——
not lower myself to give it such a name. But'I have to ex-
‘plain to this Court the history of the Trades Union Move-
ment and the history of.the Socialist Movement. In-‘the
explanation of the history and. literature.of the Socialist -
Movement it will take you into a library which in all. -proba-
‘pility is the greatest library of any school of thought of any-
-day in history.
-” Not only has the Socialist Movement in the’ course of
‘its development produced itself one of the greatest volumes
of literature, but it. has at the same time in opposition to
’ itself; created a library greater than its own.. From the day
> when the Minister of Finahce of Austria, Dr. Albert Schaf-
. fle wrote his “Quintessence of Social Democracy,” the
“ opponents of Socialism have been adding to the stock of
’ literature given'in opposition to the Socialist Movement. °
In this connection I- want to tell” you, gentlemen, that
.» Plato, who wrote the “Republic,” said, on-one occasion:
AS house that has a library in” it, “has a soul.” I want».
you to keep that in your minds while I am doing my best
to explain to you and you are doing your best to be patient
With me,—keep that in your minds, and throughout the
‘whele of this case, let it sink in. When you go back into
that room, remember that we are not being charged with,
‘gentlemen, nor tried for believing or not believing in, witch-
craft. I do not stand before you today because J am either -°
- religious or-irreligious. I am not being ‘tried for advocating
’ or rejecting infant damnation, am I? I am going to show .
just how good the case for the Crown was that it had to drag ©
in a. whole mass of totally irrelevant matter. It was all
allowed in—I say that with all respect, and it has, to my. .
mind, nothing to do with the charge; not covered by the
indictment; dragged into this case by the heels, as it were.
If, gentlemen, you were sitting.upon a case in which a.-
man ‘was being tried for stealing | a horse, if instead of these
a ae
sf
”
a PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY * °° un
accused, you:had in the box a horse thief,:what would be
the question before you? Does this man believe i in the Aryan
- peitttant: ‘young men;. who with myself today make up , the SO
Creed? Does he follow Luther? Or does he follow somebody: ;
else?, Would,those be the- questions that would be brought
to your mind? If you were sitting upon a case for stéaling
a horse, what would you think of the prosecutor who told
you that the horse thief was a follower of Ingersoll? Has
. that anything-to do with the theft of a horse? Has it any-.
-——thing-to-do-with-the-case-atall? Ta —
All through the eight weeks that the Crown have been
building up this case, that little tune that was given to us .
_ in the beautiful light operas’ of Gilbert & Sullivan, kept-
recurring to me: “The. flowers that_bloom in the Spring,
tra-la, have nothing to do with the case,’”’ and eighty per
cent. of the evidence that came from that box was like the
. “flowers that bloom in the Spring”—it had nothing to do
with the case. Still they were brought in, and we have been
charged with certain things that are laid in the indictment,
and with nothing else. People have been. charged with
various things in times past. In front of one of the greatest -
jurists of Britain, a woman was once charged with witch-
crooked pins. Very funny, when we look at it today; we
brush it to one side, because we know better; education has’
moved on apace. Science and industry have ‘developed, and
-we no longer accept those notions. We no longer accept’ |
- eraft, and it was said that she had caused children to vomit :
witchcraft, nor'the story of the old lady with the pointed —
hat who vent riding through the clouds on ‘a broomstick,
to sweep the cobwebs off the moon. Why? Because science _-
"has advanced and because the masters “Of the land desire ~
. ‘men to work for them who have at least the elements of
“. | education, and you cannot put education into the minds. of: --
.the:- young and have them hold those- old-fashioned and
‘superstitious notions. Yet, in that case, the learned judge, '-
when he charged the jury, was eniphatic as to there being —
no doubt as to the existence of witches, as being established
y
by history and expressly taught by the Scriptures. I could~.
give you instance after instance of this kind, but I must
forbear.. I want to give you a quotation: “Rducation is .
- the most radical thing in the world.” I.wonder when Dr.
"' _-Pitblado was going through his course of reading that he did ° ‘
not come across this quotation, and take the word “Radical” .
% ~ red
“out of. it.’ -It was given many years ago: “To. teach ‘the: °
12-0. WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS.
alphabet is to inaugurate a revolution.” Terrible, gentlemen. -
“To teach the alphabet is to inaugurate a revolution. To
build a school house is to.construct a fort. Every-library-is - |
aT arsenal-filled with-the-weapons -and- One of the of pros —
“BTSs. ” Who said that, gentlemen ? ,,( ‘One .of the greatest . :
. tors of the democracy south of the » A9th- ‘parallel, Robert’:
; ersoll. You may not accept him:- I may not accept him,
_ . but I atcept that quotation-from one of-his speeches because .
it means something to me and to those who are dependent
_._ tipon_me- = —F
., I don’t know, gentlemen, whether. you are religi ous or
‘ not;-it doesn’t matter to me, but I have sufficient' \corffidence
in you to -know, however much you’ differ from me‘in your .
- outlook on life, that. has nothing. to do. with. the case, and
» -* -you can judge upon the merits of the case.as it is presented 4
’ * to you. The Crown have sought from the very commence-
ment to puild up.in your minds that I, forsooth, am an ir-
‘religious*man: I look:back again over history ‘and Iwill tell
_ you something. Iwill even go back to the life of Calvin. I
can tell you -that-d like. Calvin when hhe- wrote™ -a- book on
-“Religious Toleration.”* But. when in the-cjgy. of Geneva, he
' - met. Michael Servetus, and Calvin said t t Christ. was the
S-- ---Son-of the Eternal God;,'and Michael:Servetus disputed with
- “ him ‘and said that Christ was the Eternal Son-of God; how
much: of.a difference “of opinion was there, gentlemen? Yet
.. om one fine day, when the wind was*blowing, Servetus was ©
:-bound:to-the. stake and with green faggots under” him, the ©
... wind blew the flames away from him, and for hours‘he re-
mained‘in torture; while Calvin looked -at his rival’and-Help- .
" Jess ‘victim through a, wmdow, I- like Calvin when he wrote
' ‘that work on “Religious Toleration;” but I want to tell‘you — :
honestly, gentlemen, I cannot’ like Calvin when-1 see him ~
-there,.looking through the window at ‘his helpless, victim, .
“because of a small difference of opinion.
. Now Lam not going to deal with any. Law: except insofar.
‘as. to show the history affecting the working class move: :
“ment. But there have been-funny Laws.” Really, - I. could -
almost smile, gentlemen, when’I listened to my. friend
*Mr. Andrews standing before you, and going pack : a hund-
“ved years for his Law. I don’t blame him.*I think you
have. got.to go back about a hundred years to find good
-Law, but when he wént back a hundred years for his econ- -
omics, my philosophic soul rebelled—I trust you will forgive
-me if I use that expression, “rebelled. ” A’ hundred years.
= a _ po
¢ oa ~ + at |
: . - - > ’
“
"_l_. - PRINCHARD’S ADDRESS To FURY: 13.
_ and you are back in: the days of the stage coach ‘in Britain.
A hundred years and you are back ‘before the time of big
~
~- industry: “What has transpiréd diiring the last oné hundred
. years? He might have gone.back and taken you through
the. Trades Union Act of 1906, and he would get his Law _
up-to-date in Britain; in 1871, to the days when Disraeli
made “Social Reform” his platform and rode to a political
victory. He might have gone back to the day of the repeal-
of the Corn Laws. He could have gone back to 1824; to -
those-other—Laws that were used by the masters of that
time for the purpose of crushing the growing combinations
of working men. - ;
. I-have .quoted Ingersoll. And in order to make my
position clear to you, gentlemen, I am going to quote another
_man who is not relished by certain people, and yet a man
-whoese characteristics and outlook are of the finest. It is a
' Jong time ago, and the world has moved since then, conse-,
’ quently I do not- accept all that these individuals have to
” gay, but look at this, and when you get this you will get my -
~ .outlook on life. You will find that instead of carrying a. :
: couple of Mills‘bombs in my pocket, and a couple of bowie a
_ knives in my socks, and going rushing around the ceuntry . _
as a wild incendiary, you will find my dynamite, in so far. ~
‘ as Iam capable of using it, mental dynamite ; that the fight
I-carry on amongst my fellow-workers is a fight with ideas,
for I recognize this, gentlemen, although the. léarned gentle-
men for the Crown may not, that the first task imposed upon
, any political party seeking power is to convince the major—
ity that your programme and your tactics are’correct, and
until you have done that, there is no other task to which -
you can Jay your-hand.
In this connection I want-to give you this. quotation of
Thomas Paine: *To argue’ with a man who has renounced .
rea is like giving medicine to the dead.” I think I am
wiselénough to be able to see when my ideas ‘are not actept-~
‘ ed, and I hope you will understand this position, gentlemen,
. that in every economic or poRtical question that I take-up, if | -
fact is opposed to fact, truth will come to light; and t ‘
will geome to light out of that most pitiless of contests,
contest of opinion.
.: Ido want to go over every hill-and dale ‘that. was
gone ovér by Mr. Andrews, but I--want to give youene -
example of really socratic logic. He was talking about. us. -
_ He could not help talking about us, and on one occasion ;
»
14. WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
~ there, while Lt was reading, I heard my name mentioned. I
Jooked up, and counsel for the Crown was talking about the
accused Pritchard. His index finger was pointed at me that
way (indicating). I could not help it, I had to smile, andI ..
said to myself: “Oh, to-be loose from this, and to have the
power to set this thing down in its’ proper order, in its
proper shape, to have the necessary musical training, I
- would write the finest comic opera that would ever. grace
the boards in any country under ‘the ‘sun. ” Tam going to
_____ come _to-the-phrase-‘Accused— Pritchard,’-s hortly, but listen
to this: “They commenced sewing the’ seeds of discontent,
‘and preaching the doctrine of hate. They go to the artisan, -
who is rearing his family in contentment, satisfied with..
things, and believing that his children are going to have
‘something better, and they say: ‘You are wrong; you must
not be contented; you must be discontented.’ ”’
My Lord, I think I am. reading from the newspaper
report. of Mr.: Andrews’ speech to refresh my memory.
THE COURT: You cannot do that. Newspaper reports
have all been cut out. It-does not matter much what was.
said by Mr. Andrews, or how he said it, but there might be _
Tungs, misreported there. You are. reading from the news- °
——— pap paneer
' good reports.
. actually s said.
W.A
“ht. PRITCHARD: ‘Yes, My Lord, that i is why I checked ‘
_ myse .
' THE COURT: I have no objection to your saying Mr...
- Andrews said so and so, but -to tell them itis a newspaper
-report gives it a certain authenticity which it does not
_ deserve. Newspaper reports are very often taken-down by .
. men who try to do their best, but do not always hear, or
who cannot read their: notes sometimes, and use their own’
imagination.
Mr. PRITCHARD: But it seems to me these are pretty
THE COURT: I. may say that seventy-five per cent. of |“
. what is reported as having been said by me is not what I.
. PRITCHARD: (Continuing) : Then I will. refer to
my own notes. .You will remember how he drew a picture
of an artisan in contentment, and how we were going to —
the artisan and saying: “You must not be contented ;. you
must be discontented.” And he said: “Why don’t you go. | ;
to the profiteers? Why make a man, who has ly suf-
fered, suffer more? 2” Who is suffering ? Is it the ‘Profiteers a
. he was talking about who are suffering? And if you draw
a@ picture of an artisan who has everything that he wants
‘and is satisfied, why turn around in the next breath and
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 15
. talk about-them suffering? Such inconsistencies crop up °
right through his speech, gentlernen, and I am going to take
certain parts. and show you just exactly what he did:
Another thing that he said, and this is-an important
point to me: “If we were to read to you all we would like
we should be here until Christmas.” Gentlemen, out of the
1,010 exhibits it will be.a physical impossibility for me to
go through,each of them and explain them to you, so I can °
only take a number. Yet my learned friend Mr. Andrews
may come. back and say to you: “Pritchard never said any-
thing about this one, and Queen never said anything about
this one, and someone else never said anything about this
one.” It is the same argument as was used as to our not
calling witnesses. I want to show you our position. We are
- not concernedwith breaking down every single point; we
that literature and with-the correspondence, what did you
get, gentlemen—words misconstrued, sentences wrenched -
.from ‘their context, and tacked on to a collection of. dis- -
. embowelled paragraphs, and these things were given to you
just want ‘to make a breach, and we are going to make a | ;
breach in the bulwarks of the Crown. But in dealing with’
as the position-of the seven men standing before:you as the ©
’ accused. One of Byitain’s greatest grammarians, Gerald’ K.
Hibbert, M.A.,-of Cambridge, in writing to students to tell. ; ;
them how best to become acquainted with foreign languages, —
says: “Instead of making too much fuss ‘over the alphabets _
of other languages, get this well in your minds, you cannot
understand the meaning of a word, apart from the sentence .
of which it is a part, and you cannot appreciate the worth of
a sentence taken from the paragraph of which it is a part,
and you.cannot understand that! paragraph apart from the .. —
entire context.” I want you to keep that in mind.
Mr. Andrews drew a picture of work, sweet, beautiful,
enjoyable work. Where was hé?. Not a ‘hundred years back
with his Law and Economics, but he was away. on the vil-
. lage green in the old country, in merry England, dancing -
-around the Maypole, when work was something which took
-man outside; when: work. was something-which made men; --
_ not the hideous thing’ it is today in our modern factory: :
hells, something which strangles and kills. Work, work! Let >
us listen to the song, a psalm of praise, to work, as it comes . -°
: - truck goes: away. The stevedore is. right there, the man .- .
who is running the wholeyof the dock. He is a member of
ie lti‘ D . WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
tripping from the lips of a corporation lawyer. Did he ever
work in a coal mine? Does he know what.it is to bend his
back before the face of the rock, or push wagons from the
drive to the bottom of the shaft? Does he know what it is
to stand in a slicker and sou-wester and with the rain pour-
ing down engage in painful and persistent perambulations
behind a truck heavily laden with wet fish, for setenteen
hours a stretch. If he did he wouldn’t find so much annoy-
. ance in terms. Theré-is‘a little work, which Ihaven’t here __
___with_me;_called:_ “Useful Work versus_Useless_Toil,” which
. Mr. Andrews might well read to his advantage.
Then we come to this term “Plug.” Oh, the horrér of
it! “Plugs!” they call them “Plugs.” We on the pedestal;
they down below; our fellow-workers; -we call them plugs!
’In-the workship you know ‘the term “Plugs’ every-day ~
terms. And that other term made much of in this court,
“Demand,” “Request. ”’ Go to your dictionary and you will .
need, that microscope that Mr. Andrews spoke of to find the -
difference between demand and request. But if. you go to
the employers with a new schedule, and you. enter into
negotiations, you call them “Demands,” and he calls them
“Demands,” being the term of the trade, if you will. I am
on the water-front. in Vancouver, and I-have been piling
_ rubber as the trucks-come in with monotonous regularity, |
two cases for the truck, and I am on the floor, two fellows
on the top, and we take the case. and toss it up, and the
the International Longshoremen’s Association. He is the _
boss. He knows when that particular mark or brand of
rubber is running out, and we are near the end of it. He
sees .the. ship’s ‘manifest and can tell there is a thousand
cases of that brand. Then, so that those fellows up there
will not be left with nothing to do, he says: “Hey, you
plugs, come down here, I want you over on this pile of. tea,” |
~ ‘and they come down. He uses the term and they respond
to that term and nothing more is thought of it. I want to
tell Mr. Andrews or any other. gentlemen of the legal -pro- ~
fession that if they go for twelve months through that kind. ©
of work, they will use this term just as freely as I am be- .
ginning to say “my learned friend”—terms of the ‘trade.
And I am asking him now to please have a little more re-
spect for the terms of my trade. Every man to his trade.
Every profession is honourable whether it be dirty or clean,-
a
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY .~ 1
using dirty or clean i in the broad sense of the term and not
to denote graft.
_ + There-was one thing that struck me before I got very
deeply into this, gentlemen. I notice these little things. And
they seem to me to be of more importance even than the ~
steady repetition-of witness after witness going into the
‘ box and kissing the book and saying something. Scripture
has been quoted. I might quote Scripture, and I may do it
perhaps better than those individuals. who consider me~to
——be irreligious—-am-+ -not-concerned,;-gentiemen,when-—Lread
the stories in the Scriptures, as to-whether they are true or
not; whether they happened or not;-what I am really in- |
terested in is getting a lesson out of them if there be a
lesson in them And he told us of that unruly member, the
tongue; that ‘errible member, the tongue. Do you remem-
ber, gentlemen” how he said: “It is that which cometh out
which: defileth a man.” And he quoted the Scriptures to
that effect: “That which cometh out.” All right. There is
another ‘little piece of Scripture, too, that I am -going to
couple with.it: “Out-of the fulness of the heart the mouth
. speaketh.’
I had another little piece of food for thought for my.”
cynical soul when I saw my learned friend on one occasion
on the floor, turn around and refer to us—he meant to say
“co-defendants” and he said “co-respondents.” If the Scrip-.
tures can be quoted one way, they can be quoted another,-
and -he talked to you of morality. “Out of the fullness of. -
the heart the mouth speaketh.”. That is the first time I -
have been called a co-respondent.
Talking about free speech. Gentlemen, I don’t care
what speech is jmade, or article is read, we can get some-
thing out of it, It- is not the kind of stuff I read, nor is it
the amount of stuff I read, it is what I read and how I read
it—how I read it is the ‘most important. I can take Eso
Fables, or I can take Dickens, Thackeray, Jack Lond a
‘I can go through.Thomas Paine or Ingersoll; I can take .
Herbert Spencer or Karl Marx—it all depends on how I
read, and—am I getting anything out_of it? Why, gentle-
mien, I can. even read the rent-book and get something out
of it. Of course I find a lot of satisfaction when I fing) it is
paid to date.
‘ Propaganda! He said: ey thitik they go to bed at night’ .
and wake up saying: ‘Strike, strike strike.’ ” I don’t know
- » == the experience we have passed through’ _ remember,.
18 - . . WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
gentlemen, it hassbeen some strain upon you ‘for the. last
two months. I have been under this strain for the last-niné
months.. Yes, I wake up at night and say: “Strike, strike,
_strike!” I am entitled to say also, if I wanted to use that
kind of language that he used respecting us, that he might
_wake up at night.and say ‘The Citizens’ Committee.” That
is more likely. Why were men rushed to Stony Mountain
~ Penitentiary in the fashion you have heard. Warden Gra- .
- hham ‘said-it had never been done before. My learned. friend.
is liable to retort that it was as-a measure of. safety.for_the-.
——-men thenisélves. Perhaps. “A measure of safety!” Instead ©
of putting them into gaol they took them to Stony Mountain
as a measure of safety. I suppose they dragged me. back
from Calgary-and-put me in Stony Mountain, because Stony
Mountain was much safer than the Calgary gaol.
We havesa,despatch ‘from London—showing that the
‘story. must have: seeped through. to the labor men in the
Old Country—of how the Labor Congress in Southport,
held in the early days of June of last:yéar, passed a resolu-
tion asking the British Government to bring to the attention
of the Canadian Government, and bring pressuré to bear
<< on-the Canadian Government, ‘to see that British-born citiz-
“* ens of Canada-sbould-not-be-deported: without a jury trial. oe
< Cunsel for the ‘Citizens’ Committee has®t0]ld you that he -
. wanted to be fair to me. Well and good, and yet I can see
* . that in his fairness to me he would have been so fair as to .
have desired that you twelve gentlemen would not have been
._ ‘the tribunal to sit upon this matter. Why did these workers
‘in Britain take the position they did? _..
Iam going to come back to some of these things that he
said; I haye got to touch them here and there, as. they ap- -
. peared in’ his speech. You will remember that*on’ three
_-oecasions, If I remember correctly, he referred to the - —
burglar coming into your house with a gun in the dead of ;
_ night—in the dead of night. ‘Why does he do, his work-in’
- the night? I think there is another little piece of Scripture
‘- which says something about working in the night because | a
_ their deeds are evil. And you have found, gentlemen, that. , . .
_: burglars were not the only ones that worked in the night.
And while you may have had cases of burglars in the middle
of the night, there was not one word said about the burglars ~
who ‘walk around in broad daylight, clothed in-the robes of |
_ respectability. I am going to touch on that later ¢ on. I want
you. .to get these points as I Proceed. .
—-
te Ls , - mw
Nee, PRITCHARD’S-ADDRESS TO JURY - 19 -
S- > ;
There was’ another thing—Crown ‘counsel endeavored
to anticipate things. He said: “Gentlemen, some of the un- .
defended accused will come and teH you ‘this, that.and the
other. ‘They may try and convert you.” Well, I hope we
+. make a better job of it -than he did. Hie Said: “They-may
try to dazzle you with. their eloquence,’ yand he told you,
gentlemen, to- be on your guard against ome of, the unde-
-fended accused. Why did he do this? Well you. Have heard
_Queen ;.you_have heard: Mr. Ivens. ;_and lie said some “of
the undefended accused will try and dazzle you with their.
. eloquence. I am modest enough to believe -that he did not ©
’ intend to include me, after listening to Mr. Queen and-Mr. .
-Ivens. In any case, gentlemen, I believe you are intelligent
_ enough to drive your own minds into this mass of evidence
~.and drag out the real substance. Why did ‘he need to tell’
you, and warn you that some of the undefended accused -
“will come before you and say this, that and the other. ~
Couldn’t he leave it alone. Had he not faith in-his jury—
“my jury”—to do their duty, but: hhethad- to tell you that
some ofus would come. along and say this, that and the
other. Wasn’t it our privilege to come along and say any- -
_ thing to you at all, provided it was within. the four walis of
. the evidence that had been given.. J am going to come back a. -
' little later on to some parts of the Crown’s speech, but there.
.. is just.dné thing that.strikes me now, and I am: going to |
deal -with ‘it... You -will- remember. how: the - counsel for the -.
Crown would read to you and shake the document in this .. --
fashion (demonstrating). “Gentlemen, anything. about the . |
vote in that; anything about the ballot in that? Anything. -
about constitutional action in that? No!” J am going to show | ~
-you, gentlemen ; I had to think seriously as to whether or not
I would bring a'defense.to. prove my” position on questions
both economic and political. You will remember that I .
_offered, on one occasion, a-wire. I did it seriously, but at. -
the time I did not know whether or not you gentlemen of the ~"
jury thought I was sincere or whether you thought. I was -..
‘bluffing. I might have got that wire in as_evidence for the ©.
defense, put-had I put one particle of defense I would“have |.
put in a full and complete defense. But after digging through -
_all the mass of stuff, looking over some of it for the first’
. time in. history, I find that I have all the arguments that "
a
, -I desire.
-.7- I go-to the Exhibit 560, “Western Labor News,” Wins”
; nipeg, August 9, y 1918--My jearned friend says in his truly’. 7
”
2° WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS © 4
aust,
_ Ajaxian style: “Pritchard is just as much -respoiisiblé. for -
the “Western Labor News” as any of them.” By that same
process ‘of reasoning you can come to the ‘ cor clusion that
Pritchard is responsible perhaps for the editorials of Horace
Greeley, to which I have referred; that Pritchard is .re-
. §ponsible for the pr ogramme of the. Labor Party of Austra-
. lia; that Pritchard-is responsible for the position, actions
“and the utterances of the Labor men/of the Old Country. |
Gentlemen, think of it!. Even in thy wildest and most
—egoistic moment, T Wwouldn’t have taken to myself ‘half the
power that has been ascribed to me: by the Crown counsel. -
This is signed “Pat.” (indicg ting article in “West-
ern Labor: News”). I am only going to take out of -it the
things I require for the purposé of -my own argument. |
It is headed: “Change -your ‘namie, Christopher.” Evidently
-a little bit of advice given to some fellow who runs around
this land under. the jocular cognomen of Christopher. “The
attention of the writer has at vanious times been drawn to
oft-times-clever effusions of one who signs himself ‘Chris-
- topher Columbus’. The article gdes on to state that he
- writes in the “Free Press Bulletin,’\ and the writer. of ‘this
article urges Christopher to change is name. He said that
originally Christopher Columbus may have been some dis-
coverer, but:this orle is not. Later in the article—and this is
what I want you to take notice of—I want you to follow me
'
'. step: by step. I know it is difficult for|\me to try and make ._. eels
- it.clear to your’ minds, perhaps, but I\am going to do my
best, and I know you will “However, to get: down to brass
tacks, dear Christopher, let uS in a brief way endeavor to
‘show you why.a Socialist éannot suppord the candidature of -
any other political party whether it be Capitalist or avowed- - .
‘ly Labor, why we will not.at any time cast our vote for any. |
‘but a Socialist.” Then he goes on and gives a definition-of —
property given by Professor Jenks, of. Oxford University, in
- his “Short History of Politics.” “A right yested in a human : ;
_ being or a limited number of human beings. The essence of
vit, as its name implies, is- the appropriation, the making
7 “special. -te an individual or a small group of individuals, of
‘a part of the:common stock.of thing's.) “We see then, be-_
". eause we do not think that Mr. Columbus will denly the cor-
réctness of: this ‘definition, ; that thé Socialist can have no
’ dealings with any other polit
organization.” . ).
mo ‘Remember, gentiémen, 1 ami using ; the arguments from a
4
S55 as
on — ‘. ot . wok
4 . wo . uo “
ical nominée or with any other.
: PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY ‘21,
these exhibits which have been put in against me. They. 7
have been used against me, and it'is my privilege, therefore; —
as a British ‘subject, to use these exhibits Jn my own ‘de-
fense, even though I may never have seer’ ‘them before.
Now, we come to an exhibit, “TheClass Struggle.’ os
That is Exhibit No. 535. Something that is published in
New York. And here on page 14, itis stated: “The concep-
_ tion of political action as parliamentary activity-zonly leads
~_tethat “parliamentary_cretinism’ denounced by-Marx, which"
produces the delusion that the whole world .and its social ~
‘process revolve about the parliament.” With that argu-
‘ ment I am going to deal a little later on. “This conception -
‘of political action is false theoretically, and i in practice leads
- ultimately to disaster. In itself it cannot develop the in-. -
” dependence and aggressive action ofthe. working class
which are necessary in order that it may achieve its final
- emancipation. But, related to the general mass action: of .
the proletariat, parliamentary: action becomes a vital phase
‘of Socialist activity.” That is not, you will notice, gentle-
men, issued by the Socialist Party ot Canada.
Now, .we get one of these small leaflets.’ You will ret
member they. weré dangled before your eyes; just a small 7 .
leaflet with the simple heading, “What We’ Want,” by Wil- -
-fred Gribble. And he goes on to explain all about it in. simple
words, the development from the simple machine to the
‘complex’ wheels of. modern industry. I am not -going to.-.--
- bother you with the entire icle. I want:to smash the
position put up by the Crown—"Nothing -about: the ballot.
_ in that. Nothing about the. vote.” How-
- clude. “How shall we do. this?” -Follow this: reasoning?
gentlemen. “Welly what"stands in the way. The powers of
_ the Government which stand as guarantee for the present.
' form of ownership,” they’may be ‘strong words, gentlemen,
but listen—Behind that Govemment: stands your vote.”
“Did he put ‘that in there and did he.meani it? Other people
have distributed this little leaflet. I can’t go into the history
Gribble. con-:
“of that. I have lived in ‘Winnipeg more since the trial com- |. '
menced than: ‘T ever did in my life. I can’t go into the history |
of things in Montreal, Winnipeg, or anywhere else. I must
jast build.up my own-position the best way I can. “What... .
_ stands in ‘the way. The powers of Goyernment, which
' stand as guarantes,”.and 30 on, “and behind that. Govern- .
. ment stands your vote,” and the writer of this article may" . .
__ be very emphatic to the People. : whom he is. addressing. vo
Pa
22° WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS .
2
; “Behind your vote is your ignorance and. your class inter-
ae
ests. What other explanation is there? You are far, very -
’ far the more numerous. You are potentially far stronger
than the capitalist, ‘but you-don’t know how to use your
Strength.” “Behind the Government stands your vote.”
. Take that, gentlemen, with the position I gave you.a short
time ago, that the first task of any political party was to-
convince the majority of the people that your, programme
ayd your tactics ate correct. “You are far more numerous;
‘you are potentially stronger than the: capitalist, but you: ”
don’t know enough yet to act in your class interests; behind
that Government ‘stands your vote.”
Now, gentlemen, I am going to ask you to assume some-
thing. I "don’t know whether. I-should or not, seeing that,
you have all this evidence in, but I am going to risk this, I
‘am going to ask'you to assume that sometime, somehow,
somewhere, I had a father. I don’t think there is. anything-
objectionable in that, although there is no evidence before
this court, but I am going to ask you to assume that I had~
a father. As-you heard me make my objections when cer-
* tain evidence went in} and I think His Lordship told me
that my father, if he ~vasn’t an angel now, would be some
‘day ;-you remember that, I didn’t know at that time, gentle- .
men, that right in those things themselves there would be
evidence that ‘would bear out my. “objection. I am Speaking.
honestly. -
. Mr. BONNAR. My Lord; ‘the speaker would like Mr. Wil- ,
. Hiams to get him some of the exhibits.
-' THE COURT: ‘Very well, we will adjourn for a ‘short .
intermission... . to.
(Court adj ourned for fifteen minutes. )
W.A. PRITCHARD (Continuing) : Now, gentlemen, just °
before we adjourned I was telling you that I had a father, .
and I was bringing back to your minds that during this trial
‘when I offered my objection to certain exhibits I did it -
seriously. I took that book, looked at the. outside of it, and’
_ I took that one and I said that belonged to my father, and I.
' took this one and I said that belonged’ to my father. Now,
I was not trying to crawl out of anything. Not in the least.
I want you to take notice of this. It was my right, and it
, was my ‘duty, to make that objection. because| history is
‘ ". " yeplete with instances of men who have been convicted upon. :
oes circumstantial evidence. ;
‘
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ; 280
‘That is the position of the Socialist party; the stand we
take when this point intervenes. I don’t know what- the
number of this exhibit is, gentlemen, I am not concerned
with it, all I want you to notice is the name, “W. A. Pritch-
ard.” You can seé the handwriting. Here we have Exhibit
’ 663, and you see under. the name -“J. Pritchard’s Book.” -
You will notice the difference. Now, I have another ‘exhibit:
here, another book. I have asked you to assume that I had.
——a-father.—L don’t-think-Lam-violating- any of tle regulations
of this court if I told you that father. was a.coal miner, who
went to work at nine years of age. (Pointing) The word |
.“Exoteric” is underlined—(Pointing to pencil note on mar-
gin)—‘Exoteric Teaching, Mysterious Teaching”—all I
want you to notice is the writing. See if that writing com-
_. pares with the signature W. A. Pritchard, or compares with - ._-
. the other signature (Shows. to jury). I just wanted to get - te
‘one idea in your minds’as you went along; gentlemen: The > wy.
Book itself has been used against me. I am going to quote
from this book later on on other points. Yet in this book,
using the terms which have been tised for the last half ‘
- century/in Britain in‘connection with the Socialist move-
-ment, this book itself says, on page 50: “Ihave said that
the, class ‘s@uggle is a compass to steer by. in the present
‘ struggle for the emancipation of the working class. If we | “
- steer by. this compass, we will resolutely reject all overtures ~
-. from-political parties representing the interests” and so on.
“Especially as individuals will we avoid giving our votes -or
our support to any middle class party which we may at. times
- fancy to bé making in the’ “right direction.”
__." Now then we come to this:pamphlet, “Canadian Social- ~
ist Party,’ which also has been used against me. It“appears
_to be a'‘kind of.manifesto issudl by a certain-group, as to .
their position: With that we are not concerned. But I’ must
use.it for myself, as it has been used against me. What says
this pamphlet? I didn’t know there was so much literature
in the world until now. Page 17: “The present ruling power ~
which is in the hands.of. the capitalist class is so powerful,
that the working class in its present circumstances is un-.
‘ able to overthrow it. The fists of the working class, weak- -
ened by hunger, are. too insignificant against ‘the gatling.
. guns in the hands of the capitalists. An armed revolution an
therefore i is out of the question as long as the ruling power is
> in the hands of the capitalist class.* The field for the class
Struggle | is therefore in Parliament. ” Anything about the.
tL ” oe coe a : : Lo or, "
~ . . . _
oo
24. me ” WINNIPEG, STRIKE TRIALS _
; vote in that, gentlemen? Anything about the ballot; any-
*
thing about constitutional practice? Anything about Par-
liament? “The field for the class ‘struggle is therefore in.
Parliament.”
-Kight months atranging exhibits, building up a . case,
hunting charges. Page -28, under the heading of-‘Political --
—Demands”:—‘Unrestricted and equal suffrage to men and
women, and the abolition of those obstacles which dis-*
franchise the workers in Dominion, Provincial, .or' Muni-
cipal elections, or are obstacles which prevent a Canadian.
citizen from becoming representative or candidate for office.”’
I will deal with that a little later on. We will deal with
those obstacles, which in the last year. or two have been
created for the purpose of: preventing that kind of thing: :
. “9, Initiative and referendum, proportional representation
and the right to recall.” On page 28, it says: “We should
struggle more vigorously than before, for the changing of
the Kranchise and Election Laws to be really democractic.”
w Fam willing to take the statement of my learned friend
Pitblado that the Law says that ‘anything that is found
_in‘a man’s house can be used against him; ‘Iam using some
“of it for myself. Let us use-some more. *
Exhibit 208: Platform of the Socialist Party of Can-.. .
_ada,-together with’ the’ application’ for’ membership. The
application for membership states: “The applicant recog- .
nizes that the struggle. between the capitalist class and the -
‘working class is a struggle for political--supremacy.” - In - .
_ any “organization you have the organization blank filled in.’
- to see whether the applicant is a fit and proper person for
your society. It may be any kind of society, gentlemen—
it may be the Elks, or the Bull Moose, or any other organ-
ization,.and -you-put your’ questions short and pithy, not ©
that the. world might know, but that the applicant and the .
members of your ‘organization might know.
This is'already made out: “R. C. Mutch, address, “
Smithers, B.C. Occupation, carpenter; age 26. Voter, yes”
” Look at that, please (handing to the jury)-“Voter, yes.” I
wonder, gentlemen, what the Executive Committee of ‘the
. Socialist Party of Canada were thinking about when they .
‘put “voter” on the application form? Did’ they" put it there .
just to fill.up a blank hole, or will yott gentlemen agree’
with nte when I tell you that it was put there to mean
what it says, that any political party, taking in: members,
an wishes to know for the purpose of tabulation the number
2
t
“>
‘ *..° = PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS.TO JUR
of members who are upon the register, so Phat they can
use them as scrutineers, or may be if they yossess certain
abilities, put them up as candidates. |
Then I want you to look at-this Exhibit
of. the Farm.” This was evidently the first edition. A small
one ,“Slaye of the Farm,” which you avill remember I read
85
1, “The Slave.
to you’ somewhat ‘extensively, was gotten out later on; *
rather built upon this, so it would appear, and it was put
one_gotten-out_in the -form-of- a-complete- ticle. The other ——~
in the form of letters, like.a young romantic man would °
‘ write to a dear lady.~ He always writes: “My Dear E.”
In the first one, Exhibit 541, page 16, issued by the Domin-
jon’ Executive Comimittee of the Socialist Party of Canada,
’ put in'as an Exhibit against us, says:, “Our work is. plain.
before us, the masters hold their place because they hold’ -
. political power, they are few; we are many, me must then ©
2 join. hands with our brothers of the factory. With our -
brothers of the factory, mill or mine, and workers all, go to
the ballot and grasp ‘political power; send our- own’ men to
‘Parliament to rule as we shall dictate.”
, It may be urged, gentlemen—I want to give -it all ‘to
you—that this does not appear in the next issue. This was - -
gotten out.in entirely différent-form, this was written during -° ~~
a discussion that was‘raging on economic questions. It was
- an academic question. “Two sets of economists were arguing
to all intents’-and purposes owns. the land, owns horses,...
as to whether or not the farmer when he sold his wheat had
not thus: worked up his energy into so many: bushels of
wheat, and therefore sold his energy in wheat just like the. '~
worker sellg his energy: by the day or. ‘by the month. On _
the other hand, there was another kind of économist who
said: “No, the farmer does not get his, that way; the farmer ... .
owns machinery, and yet, generally speaking, | he is in the
same: position-as the wage-worker. When all is said and
done he toils:ftom morning to night,..and: continugs to toil
" day in and day out.’ The position- that..they took and the
position I take, : gentlemen, is that the wheat raised by the
farmer belongs.to him, but he does fot have the market in ~ a
iis back yard, and itl produce something away up inthe -
‘North Pole, I might just as well save my work. The. farmer,
produtes his wheat for.the market in Europe and America.
‘When you come. to deal-with Manitoba No. 1-hard wheat,.-
you find’it ‘holds its place on the world’s market because its. :
anality | is the finest for. m ling. Before that wheat can be. a
if
¢
“
26 > - WINNIPEG? STRIKE TRIALS ; a , os,
imade use of it must get: to the market; that market must be
there, before anyone can take the wheat off your hands. _.
Here was the position then we took, that in front of the ~~
farmer there stands the man with the gun who -says:._
"Stand and deliver,” and that between the farmer and his .
wheat and the market for that wheat there stands the chain ..
‘of elevators, there stand the. railroads, there-stands- the
mighty—octopus of capital that is represented in the Grain
’ Growers’ Grain Company of Chicago, who can make fifty .
_ thousand dollars on an investment of fifty thousand.
But to. pass that. Just as I, a longshoreman, standing
some. fine morning at 5 minutes to seven, as a liner pulls in,
standing alongside a number of my fellows, the stevedore .
runs his eye over us, and he says: “Come on Jim,- Jack.”
“You plugs over there, you go down to No. 8; you. z0 to
the slings,” -just in the same way; and an ‘this book these
arguments are developed to the-full. There is an application
- for a charter to the Dominion Executive Committee of the -
Socialist’ Party of ‘Canada. Then’ there.is a pledge similar -
‘to the one that you have in that individual application form,
and here is the column for the names, column for the age, ~ -
column for the occupation, column’ for the address. “At-the -
end the column for “Office’in local,” and before that “citiz- . .
en?” Why should we want to waste paper asking if individ- © _
~ uals making application for. charter were citizens or not? - 7
Here is the answer, gentlemen, in the Jast paragraph of .
'- “that little pledge:
; “If this “application. be granted, we hereby agree to!
i maintain or enter. into no-relation with any. other political -
party.” That is our.constitutional right as a political party;
nothing seditious in-that. It goes on: “We pledge ourseltes
to support by voice, vote and all other légitimate means the --
ticket and programme of the Socialist Party of Canada
only.” -Gentlemen,- you may belong to the Conservative ;
- Party or you may belong to the Liberal Party. -You may Let
belong ‘to the Single Tax Party: you may in a very short
time, I suppose you will, belong to the Farmers’ Party, and
upon the floor of your Convention someone will say: “I am
whole-heartedly in support of the ticket of the Farmers’
Party.” What do you'mean by “ticket.”* We have some -
peculiar-names, under which we: hide our “meanings. Has _
that only just beer discovered? “To support by voice, by
. vote, and ‘by all other legitimate means,” —by argument,
_by presentation ¢ of your facts, your: programm... What do’.
eit a . *
ae + “
‘<
™, Be PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TOJURY: oa?
-you1 mean by programme ‘in any political party ? Programme
—and before you come to programme, gentlemen, “ticket” ?-
It is almost beyond me, gentlemen. -I don’t know how the
.- counsel forthe Crown could have gone through these exhib-
' its.and omitted these things. Anything about the ballot in
that? Anything about _constitutional.practice-in-that: ;?—Any=— —
“= thing about Parliamentary: action in that? I am going to: ©
leave it to'you, gentlemen. ‘What do you mean by ticket and © .
programme? What‘do I mean? I am willing to take all of -
the world’s possessions and lay them beside a brass-button, ~ oe
- if I were a betting man, that you know what I mean when’ an
I say “ticket.”
In the Western. Clarion, of Oct. 15th, 1918, page 2, ia
' there is.an article—it may be strong language, ‘ ‘National= Y
ization of Industry’”: : “For as long as the Capitalist class
remains in possession of the reins of the Government, all -. a
_the powers of the State would be used to protect and defend -: -
‘their property rights in the means -of wealth production
and their control: of the products of.labor.” “National own- - *
‘ ership or control; i is ‘only more and more a development of -- °.
capitalism and is generated by the commercial jealousy of _..
‘one section of the Capitalist class against another which’
holds a monopoly of some essential industry-and in further- ~~ ©
-ance of their aims, they bamboozle-the workers at election
times into voting. for a so-called public ownership.
Then there is a historical-article, which is~ continued
.evidently from -previous issues; “Capitalism in its latest © “3
. stages in England.” Remember, counsel for the. Crown said:
“What do they.mean by political action.” Right in here
” appears the meaning. I am going to take the time, gentle-:° .
men, because.I think you will bear with me in doing this;
’ you have a duty to perform—so have I. I-owe a duty to
myself; I owe a duty to my wife and to my children in this
matter. Isowe a duty also.to my. fellow-workers, and I do. -_:
not propose: to shirk those duties in any particular. 7
“Any: attempt on the -part. of the workers to improve
‘ their. conditions was regarded in the nature of a conspiracy . a
_ and severely Suppressed. Until the early part of the 19th - ~
‘. century, up. to 1824, when the ‘Combination Laws’ were
repealed, workmen could not even meet to discuss or delib- «-
- >> erate on the question of wages or-hours. But, of course, it* ~-.
_ was considered no. offense for employers to organize for the
purpose of regulating: working. conditions to their own .
advantage.”
my . “Soy
; . . oo? oe
a
wT - ee . . -
WINNIPEG: STRIKE TRIALS
“Whete-a are e these atticles taken from? From “Toynbee’s
au? Revolition;” and from the “Industrial ‘History of:
Great, Britain,” by..H:-de-B. Gibbon, Prizeman in’ political
' : economy,- Wadham’ College, Oxford. University.
can “Lacking political power the workers were unable to
"hele. themselves.” “But even had they possessed”—what?
—political-powet?—What-says-the-article? “Lacking poli-
“tical. power the workers were unable to help themselves, but -
‘ Socialist Party.
ee
_ ‘everi had they possessed” —political power in practice—_
. “even had“they possessed a voice in the Government they
:- would ,certainly have accomplished nothing of permanent
_; benefit-to themselves, for they understood the fundamental
causes of their misery even less than do the workers today”
"Now, we get angther’ exhibit. This-is going back to
April, 1916, Exhibit 848 (Western. Clarion). This is deal-.
ing. with a case against a man ‘by. the name of Reid. What .
I want to bring to your attention. is that there are copies of
two affidavits sworn by merchants of a certain district in
this matter..I want-you to get a. complete picture. of the
The first one is made by aman: named Macklin, sworn”
before a Commissioner, J. H. Robinson, of Evarts,- Alberta.
". “At the meeting held at Evarts school house, in the latter -
~ days of March, 1916, addressed by: John ‘Reed, Socialist -
Carididate for the Red Deer Dominion Electoral District.”
Now carry your minds back. When was the last Dominion
- Election. Gentlemen, covered by the dates in’ this ‘indict-
ment, 1917, was it not?~But it may be urged that this was
1916 ‘and therefore he was a candidate fora Dominion Con-
stituency prior to 1917. Well and good, -wlen was the Do-
_minion Election, prio to 1917? Am I correct_in saying it
was in September or October, of 1911. I think so. Was it
not in 1911 the ‘great political issue:was called, “The full
market basket.’’ It looked to me like the first-cousin to the
“full dinner pail,” because it was only a painted picture of
a market basket. That was the election cry. _Here we have
Reid, ‘the Socialist Party of Canada candidate for the Domin-
ion Electoral District of Red Deer—it could not be for 1911, .
it had gone past—nominated as the candidate for the Elec-
toral Division of Red Deer, evidently for the election that
came on in 1917, The other fellow gives a-somewhat similar
affidavit, and refers to this John Reid, Socialist Candidate,
- Red Deer Electoral District.
-
‘PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS-‘TO'JURY =°—— 29
“Then there is an article dealing with a gentleman by
the name of Parker Williams. Parker Williams had evident-
ly been a member of the Socialist Party in the very early
days, but he became a good Liberal after he got a good
Government job. I will let that pass. What did -he say. He
~ said he was still a Socialist. “I am not,” he is reported: to
have said, “in any sense repudiating its theories, that is,
the Socialist Party of Canada, but its uncompromising atti-
tude is’”—the very thing which sets the nerves of my
learned friend on ege@™“its uncompromising attitude is
not satisfactory, pa ly so when that attitude has been
such a weapon in* ing of the Conservative machine.”
e fople during the strike who kicked at
the Socialist/Party of Canada-because of the uncompromis-
ing attitudé’ of the Socialist Party of Canada in Winnipeg. .
I do not want my learned friend to be too much-haunted by
reminiscences, so I pass on. :
This article deals with the means for solving prob:
lems: “Our quidnunes, i ignoramuses, damagogues, ‘fakirs,
anglers around ‘the capitalistic pie counters say: ‘compro-—~
mise with this or that capitalist party.’ In effect they say '
to the working class, against whom-the dice are loaded: ‘Let -
us trade; follow us.into the Liberal camp and watch us spoil ~
the Egyptians; next election into the Conservative camp. ©
and beard the lion.’’ And so we go round and round the
vicious circle from disillusionment to disillusionment; the
blind leaders and the blind, weaving ropes of Sand.” ..-
Why should we deal with these papers, exhibits, that :
"the Crown have put in. Why should we deal, from our view:
point, with-the Liberals and Conservatives, and wander’
with them into their wilderness of party politics, when our *
position is that the working class must build up its own -
political party and keep itself | clear ° ‘in its own political "
vat
fights?
Then there is an article. in another exhibit, Western ©
Clarion, March, 1917. This was the paper my learned friend
Dr. Pitblado gloated over. There. he says you will see-“W.
A. Pritchard,” editor of this paper in 1917, and he passed -
over the pages, there you will see “Our Bookshelf” reviewed
by W. A. Pritchard, “The Diplomatic History. of the War,
including a diary of ‘negotiations and events in the differ ent,
capitals and the texts of the official documents of the vari- ..
ous Governments. Public speeches in the European Parlia-.
Ments, an account of the military preparations of the coun-
>t
30 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
- - tries concerned and original matter,” edited by M. P. Price,
- published by Charles Scribners & Sons.
. To show you our viewpoint all along, not only at elec- =
. tions; but between elections, here is an article on “Women’s .
‘Rights, ” by J. Harrington. The article is fairly philosophical
in its way. He-deals with the cry that is coming to the sur- .
face for rights for women.. And he says: ‘“The non-parti-—————-
____cipation-of- women-in active national affairs and the narrow - -
sphere in which they have moved for so many centuries, a
~~ . naturally produced a narrow viewpoint. This sufficiently ,
- accounts. for their undoubted conservatism.” Here is the -
problem that this writer lays before the Government: “The
balancing of. the increasing radical slave vote”-—-may be
strong language, perhaps we call ourselves slaves—perhaps
. we call one another wage slaves. If we go to a volume that.
was written by Robert W. Service,-in his ‘ ‘Songs of a Sour-
’ dough,” we find a poem on the “Wagé Slave”—“The slave
vote, with a number of Conservative votes, certainly cannot -
be overlooked by the master class, obviously apprenhensive
‘ of a new post war slave psycholo
Harrington sees the problem here,. that the politicians
of today, in order to offset the increase in votes against
‘them by the men, will grant the vote to the women. This was.
written in March of 1917, gentlemen, and in the Fall of.that -
“year, we had a number of politicians who fulfilled that pro-
phesy to the very letter. They gave the vote to a certain |
_ number of women because they considered they could use
~ that vote. There was a certain writer of note who said that
the differences between politicians and statesmen was this:
- A statesman is a man who honestly desires to do something
for his country, and a politician is a man who wants, in any
- way at all, his country to do something for him. - .
There were a bunch: of these politicians who worked
that franchise and they climbed into office by virtue of a
War Times Election Act, and a number of women who have
since repented.
You will remember how my learned colleague, Mr. .
Queen, pressed home the point that Arthur Meighen came "9
down. here with the Hon. Mr. Robertson. His was the'fine
Italian hand which drew the War.Times Election Act, the
same fine Italian hand which. wrete the amendment to the
Immigration Act that Mr. McMurray brought to your notice, -- ;
whereby a. British subjéct can be deported from British ~
possessions—tha ,same Italian hand which fulfilled the ‘Pro-
. 4
' PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY === 81.
phecy made by Harrington months before in this Exhibit .
of the Crown’s, No. 843. He isa politician, a gentleman of
‘parts—I should: say of several parts—a politician with a
_ rather-shady past and a very hazy future, and if I can read
' the signs of the times ‘aright, a “Machiavelli who wil go
~ down at the next election.
Talking about Election, what Have we 2 Here on page
12 of this Exhibit, “Vancouver Campaign Committee,” “Im-
portant Notice.” Over here, “B.C. Provincial Executive
’ Committee, Attention!” In the first advertisement: “B. C. -
Provincial Election will-take place in June. (This is April,:
1916) and as we have to put up a deposit of $100.00 for each
’- eandidate we. nominate, it means $600.00, for: Vancouver -
City Electoral District (6 candidates). The Gampaign Com-
mittee calls upon all comrades and sympathizers to con-
tribute as liberally as possible te our campaign fund. To .
date we have $165.00.”—Arthur Meighen had nothing to ©
. do with this campaign—“which means that we will have to
‘get $435.00 to place a full-ticket in the field. Make all
moneys payable to J. M. Jenkins, -169 Georgia Street. Re-
-. member the Socialist Party of Canada depends upon the -
- members of the working class for its: support. This is your
. fight. ” This is part.of that mysterious medicine shaken up
f
-in the bottle: “(Remember the coming B. C. Provincial Elec- ~
tion.- Twelve months ago a dozen candidates stood nomin-' °
“ated to contest several districts. The election did not mate- |
rialize at that time and was held-off until now.” The Honour-._
able William John Bowser put the thing off for a little while
just as the fellows in Ottawa are trying. to stave off the
evil moment. “The political situation is of a nature that. —
demands an election, and the Government realizing this.
7 necessity have practically declared an election for the month
. . of June. At any rate the House of Parliament in Victoria:
must disband in June, so we call-upon all. the. Reds worthy...
_of the name to stand by the Soeialist Party of Canada in
‘this election. There never was a-fight in any of the previous |
' elections in 'B. C. that can compare with the one we are an---
ticipating now,” Funny, isn’t it? “Don’t be misled by the:
’ variety of parties that are out to save you, the only saviour,
- of the working class is the working class themselves; so we -
call-upon every Red in B. C. to do his part. by assisting us -
in the pending eléctions.” - :
Now, I am a little under a disadvantage, I am going to
tell you. honestly. Taking poison out ot letters is an easy:
$200” ; WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
.
Job compared to taking sweet morsels. A particularly inno-
cent phrase in a letter from one person to another, which.
can be made to appear in court to bear a sinister meaning, . ~
but which in réality possesses none, is taken and tossed
about in order to prejudice the mind of the jury. I have
_ listened to it for weeks. One fellow writes: to another and
says: “Our - speakers, Pritchard,-Harrington-and-somebody
else are our top-notchers, and somebody else. coming. along
in the offing.” You will remember that has been given to
- you. I don’t want to be egotistical, because I tell you, gentle-.
men, a man who knows a little at all knows how little he
knows. And the more he gets to know the more he knows
‘ that he knows very little. The more the human mind goes
into the realm of literature or art, music or of any of the
. comparative sciences, the more his own mind is humbled,
by a realization of the mass of knowledge that can be ob- ‘
tained by the human mind. I am not saying it in any ego- .
tistical sense, the Crown have used it. Mr. Andrews, walk-
ing -up and down, says: “Pritchard, the top-notcher.”
“Pritchard, the.man who came like Blucher at the call of
Wellington, when Russell called.” Gentlemen, I trust that I
will never indulge in heroics of that kind. Anyway, the
learned counsel for the Crown in likening me: to Bl her
meeting Wellington is using a very unhappy illustration,
because it was when those two gentlemen met together that
_Napoleon was conspiring .to manoeuvre them out of busi-
ness, and he was defeated. a ‘
. Well, her we Have- the. election in British Columbia.
True, it is 19163-and the Crown may use that. They can use
it if they like; they:used the argument that Pritchard was
a top-notcher, and that we had $145.00 towards $600.00 for |
: putting those candidates in the field in the City. of Van-
ope
couver. Gentlemen, use your discretion in deciding who
were those six candidates in the City of Vancouver. That
was in 1916. This is 1920. Gentlemen, the reason that the
Socialist Party of Canada have'not put up any candidates
since the last election might be easy for you and I to find -
even though it would cause some cudgeling of the brains of
_a distinguished: lawyer. Do you remember who the member
for the City of: Winnipeg is. It is common knowledge, isn’t -
tt, Major Andtews} who ran against a labor man in Winni-
peg. I think it:wds Bob Ward. Do you know who the mem-
. ber far Centre:Vancouver is? H. H. Stevens. Do'you know.
when he was elected first? In 1911. Do you know when he
, _
~
“ PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 88
went back again? In 1917, as the Unionist Government ~
candidate. Who was the Liberal who ran against him? Why
the distinguished acquaintance of His Lordship,” William -
Wallace Bruce McInnis. ~~ 7
THE COURT: I don’t claim any acquaintanceship with oO
—__———Billy_McInnis.__ ;
’ MR. PRITCHARD: Then you and T are coming to-@
point of agreement more and more all the time. I.with-
draw that. I will say William Wallace Bruce McInnis: was
a dist®hguished acquaintance of the late Sir Wilfrid. Laurier.
THE COURT: Of course he is dead. ‘ .
MR. PRITCHARD: But still I remember, My - Lord, .
when Sir Wilfrid Laurier came to Vancouver, someone
opened the carriage door,-and there was Billy Mcinnis ,
standing there with a big chew in his mouth
COURT:. Wasn’t it Laurier who.fired his fathér?
.. MR. PRITCHARD: I don’t know,-My Lord. I have not .-
been very: ery tong int this country. a
- THE T: .Well, perhaps so.:
' MR. PRITCHARD: "But I know Billy McInnis. Genile--
men, H. H. Stevens was on the Unionist ticket, and McIn-
nis .was the Liberal nominee.. There.was a Labor. man run-
-ning on the Socialist Party of Canada ticket. Who was he? .
- Go to the list of “top-notchers”; use your common sense, ~~‘
’ gentlemen, I can’t tell you. That was in 1916; that was the:
last Dominion Election... .- ;
. - Now,-gentlemen, I stand. here before you. accused. of
. conspiring and agreeing to carry into effect a seditious in-
_ tent and that I am thereby guilty of seditious conspiracy.
. I am also. accused of ‘aiding, abetting, counselling, procur- ’
ing and f rming a common intention to commit a-common. |
nuisance.” You have ‘seen the indictment, I think: I won't .*--
offer you that indictment. -I looked at it the way it reads © -
' . when right sidé up, and then I turned it upside down and. -
read it that way; I read it from the middle towards both
*. ends, and I worked back again. There was a fellow—he may
have been a little profane—who was reading this with me, ~~
and he said: “This is the devil’s own indictment.” I agreed -*:
_-with him. It may be good ‘Law, but I know just a little of - .*’
the history of the Law, not of the Law. as a legal instrument, -
but the history of economic movements, of peoples who have . - *
- produced Law. If there is-a true science of Law it-is that ~~
. view. of Law ‘which looks upon. it from its-origin and its. | -:::
growth. Evén the. Law: changes, gentlemen. “Not very Jong: Ju
’ . . . .Ro
: : - . ’
A , , : . HA
B40 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS *
ago the learned judges on the Bench of the Province of B.C. oa
used to appear with big wigs, which took-you all your time
to tell which of the learned judges were presiding in the
_ court, because they all looked alike. Ce
_ I don’t think-the framer of this indictment drew it up
"_as a monument_to_his_art,I-think he-drew-it-up-as-a monu-
--ment to his artfulness. That is the indictment under ‘which ~~
T%tand.- It may mean something and it may mean nothing, © -
but I want to tell you gentlemen this, that one of the first.
indications that the Law is being written .by the cémmon ~
people will be the fact. that the‘common people will. be able:
. to understand it. I say that with all due deference to the
_. Hlustrious craftsman of the honourable profession’; I-may
be egotistical, but if I had my way I would carve all Latin
out of it... coe a ve eo,
. “ “THE COURT: There is no Latin in that indictment. -
_ There is no Latin in our books; = + - Co oO
'- MR, PRITCHARD:. Well, I was going to use some of it. “” :
... THE COURT: Don’t, because neither the jury nor I~ -
’ will undersfand it. - f° : oF
’ MR: I
, . MM RRITCHARD: I thought,.: perhaps, that “some °
5) gentleman should be given the task of reconstructing the
~ Canadian, Criminal Code so that: it ‘could be. understood.
Mevertheless, gentlemen, under. instructions from a more.
or less mysterious source, the whole-of the police agd the:
police spy system of this sven conjured up from God
_ knows where during this last [year or so, was set in motion. ’| |
-. Dozens -of men’s homes have.been entered into and ransack-.
ed. Papers have been dragged from out of their basements, | -
some of them bearing all the/ear-marks of having been put .
. down in the coal: heap ready; for the.furnace. ‘Stores have -
’ beéri ransacked; books,- papers, political speeches. and let-' -
ters have been piled one on/top of another in this court;
‘extracts have been taken from those letters and publica-
tions, and ‘have been pieced together, and having been pieced
.. together they make the - lost exquisite legal crazy-quilt:’ ©
that I have any knowledge of in the whole history of.Law. .
.. This collection of. words, sentences, acts, utterances—dis-: .’
_ connected from each other, /and independent of each other, .~
‘ haye’-been ‘assembled like the farmer gathers eggs from
‘different parts and puts them all in the basket, and labeled --
“seditious conspiracy.” | |. a
: Let.us see—there are/ two phrases which my learned .-
_ friends of the legal profession use—one is. “de jure’ and.
!
.
é
Ter
_PRITGHARD'S ADDRESS TO. JURY lL BBO
the: other is de facto.” Speaking briefly, as you know, -
; gentlemen, “de jure’ means in the Law—according to the .. .
‘Law; “de facto,” according to the fact. When my learned ©
- friend *pointed ‘his finger at tis and gaid: “The accused. .
-.' Pritchard;-the accused Heaps; the accused: Johns”—it ran -
in my “mind, yes, the accused Pritchard “de-jure”—accord- _
: ing-to the Law; but not the accused Pritchard “‘de facto-”—
‘I ‘stand here’ according tothe Law the accused Pritchard;
_ but according to the facts of life, according to the experi
- _ ences of my fellow-workers in industry, according to my.
own experiences—some of them bitter and. painful—I stand .
- . here “de facto” the accuser of. malicious -conspiracy;.the --
- ‘accuser. of men—not because I hate them—because I don’t
" —not. because I think ‘anything vile about them. I don’t.
-. But I stand “de facto” the accuser ‘of - men,.who "have Tent”
themselves to the most damnable -piece ef infamy ‘that.has .
ss ever-been. perpetrated in-any ‘part of the British Empire in --
the name of Law. I stand here’ today de facto the accuser
’ of men who entered into a conspiracy to- rob the constitu- -
_tion, to carve the vitals out of the privileges. of British sub-- :
"jects; who Imock thé props from underneath free speech .
and free press. Everyone who lent themselves to that: busi-
_.2-.. ness,,gentlemen, aided and abetted, counselled and procured,
and assisted and formed the ‘cormmion intention to enter into’ "~~
- a malicious conspiracy to do away with’ the entire British .
‘constitution. *
‘Speaking as.a. student. ‘somewhat of constitutional his-
ios tory, ‘I-want to tell you it is in the realm of constitutional ©
7 history that the working class stand.supreme.. The work- .
ing: class has: ‘nothing to lose, and. everything to gain by =
“working within the limits of the constitution. .Where that
constitution gives"an ever-extending franchise to the peo-.
pleas they grow. and develop, the movement can take “place :
_ peacefully: “When that constitution is throttled; when that -
constitution “is violated, when. that constitution: hag -been 7
- raped, gentlemen, there is bound to be a clash: ‘somewhere, ° os
“, sometime. .” *
“Jam giving. this to" you because. after lunch r want to--
go into/one or two-:things dealing with political © -action, am
dealing with the constitutional character of the organiza- -
_tions to which TI belong. I want to show you that men who ‘
could frame the War Times Election Act; who could write
> -=-I don’t care what the situation was—the amendment. to’
; the: ‘Tmmigration ‘Act; ‘such as, Was: rushed. 1 through both’:
36 - WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
houses of Parliament in about forty minutes, can do any-
thing. Nothing-can-ever be given as-a pretext for passing
. that kind of legislation. But to deal with the/history of this
thing as it-is, I have got to Ww you why,’ in a Labor Con-
‘vention, I stood right behind Gertain resolutions. ‘I have got
to show you why it was we. objected to a Government by’
__ Order-in-Council,_professedly~being Government of the.
people, by the people and for-the people. I have: got to show
_ + you when that Government—first of all I trust it is plain
- that I will use the Crown Exhibits—I am going to show you, -
to the best of my ability ‘how that Government in its very
. inception was a conspiracy; how. it bought up every news- -
"paper of, any standing in Canada. :
I am reminded of a story by Bob Edwards of the. Cal-
gary “Eye-Opener,”. something so apt, so delightful, to any-
one who ‘knows just a little of the political. wire-pulling _
. Dominion... Edwards said, concerning Arthur Sifton, then
’ Premier of Alberta:. “There’s one zood thing about Arthur
Sifton—his name is not Clifford.”
THE COURT: Such things as that are ‘heither material 7
ay or seemly i in a court of justice. We will adjourn.
Sur
(Court adjourned at 1 ‘p.m. )
2.30 p.m., March 23, 1920,,
:W. A. PRITCHARD: My Lord and Gentlemen of the
Jury: Discussing the matter of the position of the Socialist
Party of Canada, I would like to give you a text, which can
'. be found'in Exhibit 492, “Red Flag,” May 24, 1919. All
through this trial the thought expressed in this text. seems
‘4° an epigram by one of the finest men of letters of Britain
today. You may disagree with him, but any man of stand-
ing in the world of literature wifi tell you, if you ask for
’ that has gone on in the various provinces throughout this‘ ,
to me to have been hammered home. It iis an utterance, . —
_ the names of the three men in Britain who stand out pre-- -
.. eminently in the world of letters: George Bernard Shaw, -
'.. Gilbert Chesteron, and Hillaire Belloc. Shaw says this:
“Nothing ‘is so terrifying to the Socialists of today as the -
. folly of.their opponents.”
. uc? — You have been troubled a little about Plato’ 3° “Repub- “. 7
- lic,” as-to whether Plato’s “Republic” had not been forbid-
_den under an Order-in- Council. I find, however, gentlemen
of the jury, right from the Exhibits put in by the Crown,
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 37
that Shaw’s “Unsocial Socialist,” the “Mikado” and other .
plays by W. 8. Gilbert, were panned. ‘Mademoiselle Fifi,”
- by de Maupassant, one of the ‘finest of the French | story
writers, was banned. “First Principles. of Sociology,’’ by
Herbert Spencer, was banned. “The Origin of the Species,”
of Charles Darwin, and I could.give you a whole lot foore
of the same kind that were banned. To understand my posi-
~ tion, you must understand the position of the censor. What
. ig the position he then took. I am not claiming, gentlemen,
. -when the censor under Orders-in-Council passed a blanket
order to a certain publishing house. that he was acting
_ maliciously. I would not for a moment think so. I don’t
think so now, but I can come to -no other conclusion than —
that he was ‘acting absolutely from pure ignorance. But,
. however, discussion of politics brings me to the Manifesto.
_of the Socialist Party of Canada. -Before I touch that there -
: ~. ig something else I want to say first.. Making request of the
Crown for further particulars as to how. the bottle of :tnedi-.
cine came to be mixed we were furnished with a number of
them. :I had to use the microscope again. .And this is. what -
- I find-about myself in-the particulars: “The.accused Pritch- -
ard was a party to the said éonspiracy long prior to the
. Western Labor Conference in March, 1919, which ‘he attend-
_ ed as a delegate.” Now, really it ‘would be: ‘amusing, gentle-
men, were it not so sad. -My particular objection to this set |
of particulars is to be found in the fact that they lack par-—
ticularity, You have heard something about fairness...I-
think I can ‘look beyond the personalities, and look into those
great ‘causes which. produce economic and political move-
. ments, but I must say this that personally I am;not suffer- _—
' ing from any, heavy sense of that fairness... .
Under ‘the ‘heading “Politics,” in the Manifesto- of the:
Socialist Party of Canada, there is an excerpt from the:
- Communist Manifesto. I am going to read: to you that:
excerpt as it was read to you-by. counsel for the Crown:
“Free man ‘and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf,
“guild master and journeyman, in’ a, word, ‘oppressor and *
BY ressed stand in constant opposition to one another...” <.
__“. Do ‘you notice any difference? Did you notice the difference
. -. between the past tense’ and the present tense—that is how’
it was presented to you, and yet, immediately before that —
’ . paragraph is.the key which explains that this is. treating | 7
.the matter historically.. “The history of. alf hitherto exist- -.
_ ing. society (that is, all written history), As the-history: of. -
i, :
‘ lo . aan 2 et ve 4
o a ‘ woe - a
2 tele aa
ah WINNIPEG STRIKE" TRIALS,
ae
class” struggles.” Written history’ takes us back tothe -
hardy pioneers on the shores of the Mediterranean, the - |
. Phoenicians. It must be dug-out of the records of the past,
- man and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and_serf; guild a
as it can be found in tools and instruments used by.primitive
man in various stages of development. You see how a small
thing will give it an-entirely different complexion: “Free
- master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed,
stood in constant opposition’ "twisted into “stand” in con-
_ stant opposition.
——History-of Our, Own Times. He tells us in one of ‘his, his- .
torical essay§ that a study of the History of Rome is valu-
‘I think we can accept J ustin McCarthy as one of the
reliable historians of the Victorian Era, _author_of—_the
able for every student’ of history and politics, because in
’ the life of Rome, and. particularly i in its decline and fall, we
4
Be
q
see a picture of every slave empire which preceded it, and..
we have lessons and pictures-for every social epoch that
has succeeded it. Take that lesson with the quotation:
“Free man and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf,
*gnild master and journeyman, in a- word, oppressor and
éppressed, stood in constant opposition . to one another,
_ carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight,
a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary recon-
struction of society at large, or ip,the common ruin of the
contending classes.” McCarthy shows that as-those empires
which preceded Rome went down, ‘Babylon, Carthage, Alex-
_ andria, Greece, everyone of them show~that lesson of his-
tory, the common_ruin of the contending classes. And then
in Rome,‘the Jast of the great slave Empires, as it went
‘down, we have the other lesson of history, revolution and’
reconstruction of ‘society at large.
Dealing with this matter of the ballot, and: with the’
matter of the Socialist Party of Canada and Parliamentary -
action, they read to you from the first paragraphs of the
section on politics. I had already read this to you some time
ago, and I also read concerning the rise’of the different
of.feud. ism, the rise of the merchant class, | the destruction
.of feu m. Then I went into the section on “Economics,”
he showing our definition of value, what we mean by the Le ee
of surplus value, what we mean by price, by exchange,
all the other terms that are used in the science of economics
Why did I do that? To give you.an idea of the work in ae
t
-slave | empires, the prelude to feudalism, then the institution .
r - —_ . . . ~
. = ‘ . .
_— + PRITGHARD'S ADDRESS ‘TO sURY ; . 39...
. entirety, to show: Fou, “that while if was ‘the Manifesto of
the Socialist Party. of Canada—which fought in every elec- .
tion up to the present time—it was nevertheless a disquisi- ~
a
tion on the history-of movements throughout the world;
it was. a~work explaining world movements. The wheat. -
.. that you produce on your land ties you up to every other
country in thé world. The ships that I load and’ unload ©
connect me, may be, with the Jabors of the Chinese -coolies -
of Shanghai, Hong Kong a other oriental ports; and.
brother Johns, as-he works with the micrometer and the
lathe-in-the machine shops,his—labor-is-connected_with-the-
slaves of the American rolling mills. That is why I- read
specifically from this work, which deals with the move-
ments throughout the world: “For one country-it may be
the ballot, in another the mass strike, in a third insurrec-
tion.” And they try to read the thing upside down.
“You know as Well as I do, gentlemen, how the workers
in ‘Belgium weré forced into a mass strike in order to gain
the franchise. Did-the franchise mean: anything to them?
_ If it did not, why did they expend their energy in a fight of
that kind. Under the old three-class voting system, despite -
' the fact that the worker could vote under the Kaiser’s' rule
in Germany, what good was:that? We look at the conditions
of the worker in what Lloyd-George himself called “A Ram-
shackle Empire,” ‘Austro-Hungary! “In one country it may
be the ballot; in a second the mass strike, and in a third. .
insurrection.”
I can remember -yet the appeals. that were sent over. .
from our side into Germany, hoping that the workers in
Germany would rise against their masters, at the time the
_war was on. If in one country it is the ballot, which country ©
will that be, gentlemen, but in that ‘country. where that
ballot is allowed free and: full expression. Does that expres-
sion, “In one country it may be the ballot,” mean anything,
\
_ or are they empty words? I tried to explain to you that,
under: the ‘constitution that develops and moves, it- would on ;
: be the height of insanity to use any other method for pop-_
; ular expression but the ballot, because the ballot is our most
’ expedient method of settling disputes. :
‘Parliament was born somewhere around the 12th Century. a
When the King, in-order to make his highways clear, went --
- into a village and dragged off hostages and kept them until-- -
. the villagers had made the necessary reparation to the King;
it was from that crude practice that Parliament arose. To
£,
* *e
a
in
v
a.
we ~~
40 WINNIPEG STRIKE . TRIALS ’
m be a member of Parliament i in those days 7 was no soft- job
*.at all, Yet it has developed from one point to’ another, and
we find in the-last century the franchise being widened and
extended. The franchise was really never in the hands of
the workers to any extent until the passing of that Franch-
ise Act I referred to this morning. For myself, I do not
need to give evidence as to where I come from, my brogue
will tell you just as Mr. Queen’s brogue will tell you where
he came from. My brogue will tell you I come from not very *
far south of the Tweed. I never had a vote myself until I
came to this country. Of course, like a wise man when I -—
__did -have-a-voteI went out and I voted for myself.
aa
‘
I will refer to Exhibit 577, No. 20 in the circle, in the
- Socialist column of the Western Labor News. “The Dic-
tatorship of the Proletariat.” It says, signed ‘Local: No. 8,
Winnipeg, Socialist Party of Canada.” Yet, in the article
itself, right in the commencement, gentlemen, it says: “The,
Law of the great and free Canada informs me that the
literature of Kerr, of Chicago, is banned,” and so on. Ni ow,
it indicates it was written by one man—“informs me”—
and counsel for the Crown gloated over that and also—that
. there were some quotations from the Communist Manifesto.
And this writer who states: “The Law of this great and.
free Canada informs me”’—goes on with the quotation: “In
‘one country the ballot, in another the mass strike, in a
third insurrection.” The point that he was making in the
definition of political action was the fact that this Manifeato ©
is addressed to the International Working Class, and that
.. there is implied therein that political action tan take vari-
ous forms in different countries, according to the conditions
‘of those countries. And then he says—and this was em-
.phasized strongly by the Crown—“At one time we thought
that the constitution of Canada allowed us to come under
‘the first category, but mow-a-days we'are in doubt.” -Writ-"
ten in January, 1919. I feel almost like saying,. - “Perhaps
so.” Thousands of Orders-in-Council put forward in lieu of
statutes. Now we are in doubt. We could hardly blame him
when we see what has been enacted in the name of Legisla-
tion down at Ottawa, and when we further bring to mind
the fact that they have so bolstered up themselves that they
could declare to the world at large that they *were going to
hang on until 1923.
Gentlemen, you have heard something of Marx. I have
got to introduce you to Marx. ‘The “Communist Manifesto”
son
.
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESE To JURY _ a
—
has been thrown around and quoted 1 fron quite a lot. - Who
was Marx? It is not a matter of any\hero-worship. My
wo:
learned friend said that in his “young and romantic-days . a
he, too, was a Socialist, but he had heard nothing of this
Marxian Socialism. Marx’ s father was a Jewish lawyer, who,
in 1824, went over to Christianity. The whole family were
baptised as Christian Protestants. Karl Marx went to the
. High Grammar School at Treves, and afterwards, .in 1835,
to the Universities of Bonn. and Berlin. He studied first Law, .
and then history and philosophy, and in 1841 he.took the
degree .of,Poctor of Philosophy. In Berlin he had close
——intimaey ith-the-most_prominent_representatives of the
Young Hegelians, the Brothers Bruno and Edgar Bauer and -
their circle, the so-called “Freien.”
After a while he became editor of a certain paper, the
Journal of the Rhine; and while it is not necessary to the
argument, it may be interesting to tell’: you that he married
the daughter of a Government ‘official, Jenny von West-
phalen.
Concerning his’ work, Iam going to give you an excerpt
- from—since it is a standard work—the Encyclopedia Brit-
~annica. .
THE COURT: Oh, no.
MR. PRITCHARD: I understand, My Lord, that you
said we might make references to standard works,
. THE COURT: Well, you misunderstood me. ;
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, we have had quotations -
from poets; quotations from the Bible —_
“THE COURT: ’ Oh, I have allowed you to-go on because -
* it would make more trouble to stop you in some cases. In
any event, we usually allow quotations from the Bible; they
are 80 intéresting.
MR. ANDREWS: Your Lordship will know that most
of the articles in the Encyclopedia are written by those. in
sympathy with the doctrine that is being expounded-—-very
many of them. . .
- MR. PRITCHARD: I think the Crown is misinstrudted
_there. If he were to read the article on religion he would
- have an entirely different opinion of the writer of that
article. ‘My Lord, if the court could be told something about
what Lord Roberts said in Albert Hall, in London, I should
think we could quote the Encyclopedia Britannica. .
THE COURT: Tt ‘wasn't read from n anything, was it?
a _ WINNIPEG’ STRIKE: TRIALS
MR. PRITCHARD: ‘No, it seemed to-be grasped froth
* the atmosphere.
THE COURT: The jury might disbelieve the man who
‘said it, but the jury might pay certain attention to soms-
thing from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
MR. PRITCHARD: Of course, I could tell them what
Winston Churchill said in 1914 in ‘Liverpool
THE COURT: How do you know you could?
MR. PRITCHARD: I mean to-say I was perfectly cap-
able of doing it, providing Your Lordship allowed me, in
the same way as Mr. Andrews quoted Lord Roberts.
‘MR. ANDREWS: The reference I_ made to Lord. Rob-———
erts-was_with reference to the German invasion; that he.
had warned the people of England for many years. ~ _
MR. PRITCHARD: Then I will have to present.my
own argument on the matter of these works. I consider
this germane to my argument. This case with all its rami-
fications is almost overwhelming. I will proceed, My Lord,
with your permission and present this as my argument. .
THE COURT: Do not present it as being an article in
any book.
MR. PRITCHARD: No, My Lord, it ‘will be merely an
argument inserted in my brief. In contradistinction to most
of the Socialists of the day, Marx laid stress upon the poli- -
tical struggle as the lever of social emancipation.. In some - .
letters which formed part of a correspondence ‘between
Marx, Ruge, Ludwig’ Feuerbach, and Mikhail Bakunin, pub-
lished as an introduction to The Review, this opposition of
Marx to socialistic dogmatism was enunciated in a still more
pronounced form. “Nothing prevents us,” he said, “from
combining our criticism with the criticism of politics, from
participating in politics, and consequently, in real struggles. -
We will not then oppose the world like doctrinarians with a-
new principle; here is truth; kneel down here. We expose
new principles to the world out of the principles of the world
jéself. We don't t&@ it, ‘Give up your struggles, they are rub-
bish, we will show you the true war-cry.’ We explain to it
only the real object for which it struggles, and conscious-
ness is a thing it must acquire even if it objects to it,”
In Paris, Marx met Friedrich Engels. Friedrich Engels
- became, as C. P. Scott, Editor of the Manchester Guardian,. .
says, “The letters that passed between Marx and Engels”
—but this is a historical sketch and has nothing to do with .
this. case.. We are prepared to admit, if it will help my
“PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO yoRy gg
- learned friend, that Karl Marx may. ‘have “written many
books, but they say only the Communist Manifesto was
. distributed, and therefore we cannot consider these inter-
_ esting letters te Engeis.- Like the flowers that bloom in the
Spring; my Lord, they have nothing to do with the case. ~
: Engels’ uncle was a large cotton manufacturer, about
two miles from where I came from} near Manchester. It’-
might have something to do with this case if I can show |
you that these two men, as they. analyzed the political con-~
ditions in Europe and in England, were forced to the con-
——elusion-that_of_all_ the European countries England would -
be the one’ where the change would come about } Paes aed
_ Owing to the traditions of the British working class and
’- ‘owing to the mdustrial development of Britain itself, they
concluded that the preat change that they looked for would:
. come about peacefully through perfectly constitutional
forms. If I can show you that, gentlemen, I am-entitled to
do-it, just as I would be entitled to show you who Herbert
Spencer was, what he did and what he wrote. But I will
pass. I avoided any interruptions to my learned friend’s’ -
address although many a time I felt that he was getting «
away from the mark.
. However, there came a time when Marx came to Lon- . -
don, after being buffeted from pillar to post, and was in-
vited to write letters to the New York Tribune, of which
Horace Greeley was editor. Some of these letters have been .
published under the title, - “Revolution and Counter-Revélu-
"tion in Germany in 1848.”. They constitute a great analysis ~~
-of the political conditions. of that day. He also wrote let-. -
ters to the New York Tribune, for a living; on the Eastern
‘.question, and they were published under that title. Part of -
these letters-dealing with the Eastern question and the .
Crimean war were published in 1897, in London, and some-" ~
- what-later reprinted in pamphlet form. The co-operation of .—
‘ Marx, who was determinedly anti-Russian since. Russia was -
, the leading reactionary power-.in Europe, <was obtained by
David Urquhart and his followers. Marx wrote a-series of -.
articles on the. diplomatic history of the 18th: ‘Century for °..
: the Urquhartite “Free Press;’3 1856-57 When, in 1859,
the Franco Austrian. War about Ttaly- broke out, Marx’ de- .
“nounced it as ‘a Franco-Russian ’ “intrigue. directed against _-
Germany, on the one hand, and the revolutioiary movement
in France, on the other: ‘He was attacked by certain indi- .
viduals, one of whom was Karl Vogt. He replied to ‘him. -
we
e . . : -
a4 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS ‘ a
But it was in that same year, 1859, that he published his
first real work on economics,. “A Critique of- Political’
Economy.” This was the first part of a larger work planned
to cover the whole ground of political economy. But Marx
found that the arrangement of his materials did not fully
answer his purpose, and that many details had still to/be |
worked out. He consequently altered the whole plan and ®
sat down to rewrite the book, of which, in 1867, he published:;.:.-
the first volume under the title of “Das Capital,” andthe *’-
“ economic theories that are in that work have been reduced -_~
——and-embodied-in that-tittle work to which I referred. ~~
This argument proceeds—gentlémen, that he has been
justly compared with Darwin, it is in these respects that he, .
ranks with that great genius, not through his value theory,
ingenious though it may be. With the great theorist of bio-
logical transformation he had also in common the indefatig-
‘able way in which he made painstaking studies of the min
utest details connected with his researches. In the same
ear as Darwin’s epoch-making work, the “Origin of
pecies,” there appeared also Marx’s work, “A Critique of
. Political Economy.” The Crown: told you the Communist .
> Manifesto was drawn up.in Germany. The preface of the
* work, written in 1888, by Fredrich Engels, tells us that
though drawn up in Germany in 1848, the manuscript was ,
sent to a publisher in London a few weeks before the French
Revolution.: A French translation was brought out in Paris,
shortly before the insurrection of June, 1848, and the first
English translation, by Miss Helen Macfarlane, appeared _.
. in George Julian Harney’s “Red Republican;” London, 1850.
-It is in this work,.about which they have made so much;
this work from which they have taken one or two points, I
- would like to show you,-gentlemen of the jury, that it was
in this work first of all that Marx developed his concept of
historical development, that men do not produce movements, -
but that movements produce men; that it was not so much:
Napoleon that made the conditions of Europe of: his time,
but that the very conditions of Europe themselves called
out for Napoleon to appear. You may not agree with this
view of history, gentlemen, but I must put it before you—
that we look not on the passing of feudalism as an inciderit
_in the Lutheran reformation, but we look upon the Lutheran. .
‘ reformation itself as an incidgnt in the passing of feudalism
and the coming into existence of capitalism, and this preface
was written in London, by Frederick Engels, on the 30th of
¢
ed) 7
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY . 45
January, i in 1888, and so far : as I know, is still circulated :
_ among the Labor ’and Socialist Movements of Britain.
In Manitoba, for the first time in the history of ‘ihe
.Labor Movement i in any part of the British Empire, so far
as I know, it has been dragged in as evidence of a seditious
conspiracy. I know iff the leamged counsel of the Crown "—
-weré as conversant with the tool8*of my occupation as he is
with his own, and if I were as conversant with his occupa- -
_ tion as I am with my own, we might make.a better legal
argument out of it, but I have got to get the facts before
_"you_as best I can, to the best of my little ability: We are.
“AK
driven into this position, that throughout-the—length—and-
breadth of the British Empire, it is left to a province in the
Middle West of the. Dominion of Canada, to say, “this is
poison,” “this is seditious’-—-and shall we say it, gentlemen,.
merely because learned counsel for the Citizens’ Committee
come forward and tell us that it is so? .
Take that preface, what does it tell us? - Dealing with
the work itself, in this preface, Engels says: “Yet when
it was written, we could not have called it a Socialist Mani-
festo.” Why? Because the term Socialism was used by
Robert Owen, by Fourier, who built Utopias in the way . :
Bellamy did. Why does Engels say this in the preface? He
_ says: “An Armenian translation; which was to be published
in Constantinople some months ago, did not see the light,
I am told, because the publisher was afraid of bringing out _
a book with the name of Marx on it.” Well, we might
. understand that in the land of Turkey. “Thug the history of ©
the Manifesto reflects, to a great’/extent, the history of. the
modern working class movement; at present it is undoubted- © ~
ly the most widespread, ;the most international production
of all Socialist literature, the common platform acknowl-
edged by millions of working men from Siberia to California. - -
Yet, when it was written we could not have called it a Social-- |
ist Manifesto. .By Socialism, in 1847, were understood, on
. the one hand, the adherents of the various Utopian systems; ;
the “‘Oweriites ‘in England, Fourierists in France, both of
them already reduced to the position of mere sects, and:
gradually dying out; on the other hand, the most multifari-
ous social quacks, who, by all manner of tinkering, professed -
to redress, without any danger to capital or profit, all sorts. ”
of social grievances; in both cases men outside the working.
class movement, and looking rather to, the ‘educated’ classes
for , Support. ” _
-
46. WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
. Then he gives a quotation from his ‘preface to the Ger-
man edition of 1872: “However much.the state of things .
may have altered during the last 25 years, the general
~~ principles laid down if this Manifesto, are, on the whole,
as correct. today as ever. Here and there some detail might °-
be improved. The‘practical application of the principles, -
will depend, as the Manifesto itself states, everywhere and
at all times, on the historical conditions for the time being
existing, and, for that reason, no special stress is laid on
the revolutionary measurés proposed at the end of Section
_ I. That passage would, in many respects, be very differ-
‘ently worded today __In_view—of—the-gigantic—strides~0 of
moder industry since 1848, and of the accompanying -im
proved and extended organization of ‘the working class, in
_ view of the practical experience gained first in ‘the February
- revolution, and-then, still-more in the Paris Commune,
where the proletariat for the first time held political power —
for two whole months, this programme has in some details
become antiquated.” Further on he tells us: “Also, that
_ the remarks on the relation of the Communists to the vari- —
ous opposition parties, Section IV., although in principle
still correct, yet in practice are antiquated’ because the |
political: situation. has become entirely changed, and the -
progress of history has swept from off the earth the greater
portion of the political parties there enumerated.”
‘Why did I take you into that -preface, gentlemen?
Because the end of Section IL, and the end of Section IV.,
were the particular portions of this Manifesto that were
brought to your attention .by the learned -counsel for the.
‘Crown.
I read before, when I had the opportunity, showing
you how this deals with the development of industry from
the Middle Ages to the present time, dealing with the chang-
’ ing of political conditions. Remember this, gertlemen, writ-
. ten in 1847; applying to the political conditions in Europe,
_ around the time of the Chartist Movement in the Old Coun--
try, long before the working class were ever.given a chance °
-to express themselves by the franchise. What does he tell
us: “That portion would, in many respects, be worded very
differently today,” “because the political situation has been
changed, and the progress of history has swept from off the
‘earth the greater portion of the political - parties. there
enumerated.” -
. With the thought still ringing } in my mind, gentlemen, oo,
°
~~ . oe
“PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO “JURY” ., - “1
° that “Out-of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh, ”
because in this court—it may have~ been a mistake all right, -
yet for the first time in my history, I have been. referred to
a8. co-respondent-—— -
‘THE COURT: I wouldn’t worry about that. Nobody -
here is accused of that kind of a-crime. :
. MB. PRITCHARD: - My Lord, I am not worrying. Had -
it been said in earnest, I wouldn’t worry about it, any more.
than I would worry about the. things that have been’ said .
in earnest. «
There i is a drama going on here, and the actions of the
_actors-in-this- drama;-shall-at_least-be- brought-to the atten-
. tion of the gentlemen of the jury. . ;
T COURT: Do you want to indict Crown counsel?
MR. PRITCHARD: I wouldn’t -indict them for any-
thing, My Lord. I wouldn’t waste my time writing out an”
_ indictmertt. Goethe could say: “I always know I .am trayel- -
ling when I hear the dogs bark.” ,
- You remember, gentlemen, taking up this work, and
linking together the two paragraphs by another one—two
paragraphs quoted by Mr. Pitblado, with the other left out.
—but I won’t go over it again because I can trust your in- ©
telligence and your‘memory. Dealing’ with the question of -
property, I gave you the definition of property by-Professor «
Jenks, .in his “History of Politics.”. Professor Jenks was -
“yéadér in-Law to Cambridge ‘University, and possibly next .
. to Paul Lafargue was the one man who wrote clearly on n the
evolution of property. : .
THE COURT: Are those-in as Exhibits?" °:" *
MR. PRITCHARD: My “Lord, what Professor. Jenks ;
said, and Paul: Lafargue’s book are both in as Exhibits. “
: THE COURT: We will have-to see them, if they are’,
in the court.’ Gentlemen of the jury, when it comes to mat-
ters of Law, as this is dealing with the Law of property,
-evolution of property, I will have to tell you about that. .
-MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, I was. not giving ‘it to
them as.a matter of Law, I was -dealing with this work of
Professor Jenks, in his history of Politics... i
' THE COURT: I don’t want to embarras you. If they
are in as Exhibits you are entitled to use them.. Go on. .
_. MR. PRITCHARD (continuing, reads from Communist -
- Manifesto): “Hard-won, self-earned. property? -Do .you
.mean the property of the petty artisan and of the small «
‘Peagant, a form of property that preceded the bourgeois -
.
48. Se WINNIPHG. STRIKE TRIALS.
form? - There is no need: +6 abolish that; the! ‘development
' of industry has -to” al ‘great extent: already —destroyed- “it
and. is still ‘destroying ‘it daily.- Or do you meant “‘modern- °
bourgeois private property ? ‘But does«the -Wage-earner .
- ereate any property for the laborer? Not a bitz#@ creates ~~ ;
capital, i.e., that kind of property which: exploit: Siwage- a .
“labor, and which cannot increase except upon: ‘conditi mn-of' .° | -«
’ getting a new supply! of wage-labor for fresh exploitation. ;
: “Property, in its present form; is based on the’ antagonism
_- of capital and wage-labor. Let us * examine both* “sides of.
_ this antagonism.” - °
- “The abolition of the’ family! "Even ‘the. ‘most: “yadical oo
a:
> flare-up at -this infamous. proposal of the Communists. On .
what foundation is the. present family, the bourgeois family, -
based? On capital, or 1 private g gain. ‘In its completely devel
_ oped form this fami ily exists ‘only among the bourgeoisie. ;
: But this state. of. things finds. its complement in the prac- ° ~
- tical absence of the family among thé proletarians, and ‘in’
public: prostitution. '-The ‘bourgeois family will vanish 'as.a
-. ‘matter of course -whén its complement’ vanishes, and both -
will. vanish. with the| vanishing of capital. Do: you charge --
us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their -
parents? ‘To this crime we plead guilty.”” > Aan
“Then the argument trumped up: against-us in regard
to Communist moral y. ‘Gentlemen, I wondered at whom -
the accusing” finger. | was pointed—certainly - the accused —
Pritchard—the accused . Pritchard de jure, but: de facto —
something else. What does it say, gentlemen? “He'has not.
even a suspicion thatithe real point.aimed.at isto do- away .
’ with .the status of women’ as mere instruments ’ of pro-
duction.” ;
I wanted. to tit with that Communist’ Manifesto at .
- greater length, but I think I have-told you something about. / -
it. I have made it clear from the book itself that:it has an: ~~
‘extensive: circulation fin the mother country. You will re-
member the outburst of. righteous indignation from.the ..
lips of counsel for the Crown: “Would you like your children
‘to read that?” Who was it, gentlemen, who said: “When I |
was a child, I spoke as a child, but-when I became a man J
put away childish things.” Some people, evidently. long.
after they become.men, do not put away childish things.
I had a paternal aunt,\a-good old soul in her way, who, at | ~
the very time when I was studying the Scriptures—I don’t .
; know whether r told yo about that—but His Lordship says
Ay,
i PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY re:
™ \
“Te can. quote from “Scripture here—but when I was 3 reading. _—
the Scriptures, this aunt of mine would carefully steal away -
the Old Testament so that I wouldn’t read’ it. Gentlemen,
- if I were to deal: with the Bible in’the same. way. as-Mr,-
Andrews has dealt. with that book, I could convince every
-one of you jurymen, that your, children ought to have
nothing whatever -to do. with the Bible. If I were to goto ~
Work and wrench little pieces from their context in.the ..._
‘Bible, I could do ‘exactly with it, and more so, as did Mr.
. Andrews to the Communist ‘Manifesto—and gentlemen, I °
7 am offering no condemnation of the Bible.
-Yes,-they- gathered- this-literature—T don’t-know-whet =
< ‘er “this has left the same impression upon you minds as ‘it
. -has- upon mine,, but here you ste a mountain of stuff, and ~
when you. come to consider the sources whence that stuff
. tame, Lam sure it leaves the same impression: From scores
_of ‘houses, from: bedrooms, from halls, gathered together
“and brought here whether it had anything to do-with the
. case or not. You saw.those Crown witnesses.in the box;
- Government servants. -My learned friend referred to Pauline ~
. Johnson’s. “Redcoated Riders of the Plains.’ -But Pauline
_ Johnson would never think that her “Redcoated - Riders of
* the Plains’ were to be used for this kind of business. It is -’
‘.all right, a little emotional stuff-now and again works in .-— -
when argument fails, as used by the counsel for the Crown. 7
- Did you listen to them? “Did you bring all that was in the _. o
house?” “No.”. “What did you bring?” “I brought ‘what I. -
. thought was-necessary.” You retnember Mr. Queen asking.
one of them what it was that, he: went out-to get! “We went —
-° out to get whatever we could that seemed to have some.con-~
‘nection with the Socialist Party of Canada, the.O. B.U. or — or
:: the Winnipeg strike”’ You remember a man.who brought -° -
a handful.out of a room which contained a truckload, ‘and
‘touch one of them, -merely STaking a Randiul ‘of stuff. out
of, a truckload. in the room.’
." that same man said that the individual who owned the réom .
_ had over five hundred: books in his: ‘bookcase, ‘and he didn’t
Nou remember ‘in that box stood a ‘witness, and he 7 7
‘said: ‘“We-have got this stuff from the Socialist Party hall,
- in Vancouver, r, and-we have four times as much stuff as this.
taken from there out in~the-North_West Mounted Police .” .
' barracks in Vancouver. Good. Good. These things sink in,’
gentlemen, when counsel for the Crown says the, defense :
- have. not called any evidence. Put: yourself in- my ‘place,
ns
> .
50 7 7 - _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS:
. gentlemen. Why are two or three pamphlets taken: out of
> one’s library, and the rest of it comes back in a potato sack -
'. in after they have dived into every house. th
-of and brought these things up to the I
; used them for théir own purpose? pe
more or less twisted about? They go irito your house and
take what they like and use what they like, and they say if
there was anything else there you .can bring- it in-as your
defense. How are you going to do it? They say: “Pritch-
ard, we haven’t proved that you were a memberrof the So- -
cialist Party of Canada, but somebody. said you-were a top-.
notcher, so you are connected anyway.” And that is good .
enough. For the-purpose of -this ‘prosecution it is good
enough. “And Pritchard, if you want to take any other of . .
——that stuff that-was down therein” Vancouver-in your home,
_or at that hall, you can. do so”—and four times as much as ._
is brought here is still in-the North West Mounted Police .
. barracks in Vancouver. And they say so politely: “You.can °
' -bring the rest of it if you like.” How are we to know where ;
way to —
the incinerator .and burned? They say here Z
then let us bring the other lette¥s. How are wey
I might go into the Economic System, by. Dr.. Wm,
Adrian Bonger, and show to you, “gentlemen ofthe jury,
- that ‘at least there is nothing seditious nor pernicious in
- "these things; ‘I might take hundreds of these Exhibits and
- then the'Crown could come back. and say: “You didn’t touch.
this one; you didn’t touch that one.” In connection with the.
pamphlet of Dr.-Bonger, F am going to tell you this, gentle-
men, that, looking it over, I find that it is taken from his
“work on “Criminology,” and by the Criminological Society -
- of America, Dr, Bonger has been considered as the greatest .
writer on the subject of Criminology.. They talk about the
‘economics in that Communist Manifesto, yet, in Dr. Bonger’s
. work on the. economic conditions you find“the same argu-
ments. You find him dealing with the rise of the capitalist .-._
_class within the last 200 years; you. find him dealing with.”.
"~~ the: ‘industrial revolution from 1760 to 1840; “you find him
another. +
MR. ANDREWS: Is this. an Exhibit?
various: tribes as they. have’ developed from | one ‘point to -
MR. PRITCHARD: I am: not the father of all these
3
, "- PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS Jo JURY - So Bt
Exhibits here, but singeFou Doue put them. in 1 iaust use a
. oNTHE -COURT:. -What is it? . Tae 7
. MR. ANDREWS: This is !an extended. rev iew . of. the
book’ you aré referring to. ;
- MR. PRITCHARD: I was referring. to a work by’ Dr. 7
Bonger, -the latest work on Criminology. And I find there
has been a written-review of this book in-one of the Crown’s
Exhibits by’ Clarence Darrow. I was merely. telling ‘the
jury some. arguments there presented are found in the Com- .
munist-Manifesto:
' THE COURT:. The book is not an Exhibit. . .
‘MR. PRITCHARD: Gentlemen of. the jury, I cannot
. - tell: you what Dr. Bonger said until I discover it somewhere.
_We will leave that just for a moment. But he does say "~
this, gentlemen, . and this is in, as he deals with, the: present .
_ economic system= a ers
- _ THE COURT: I don’t know who Dr ‘Borger is. a
MR. PRITCHARD: He is a ‘Doctor of Law in Amster-_ -
dam University, and ‘this work of his was originally written
‘ in French and was translated. _
7 THE COURT: . I- remember the book now:: (.% 0 |
MR. .PRITCHARD: It is listed-in the works of. ‘the :
. Criminoiogical Society of the United States. I think Your ~.
Lordship: will remember there is an introduction by Frank
~ A N orcross.
: is in
THE couRT? “E Imow the book, but I-don’t think it”
MR. ‘PRITCHARD: The book i is not in, but-the 3 review
‘is in. I gota 1 copy of the book myself through’ Mr, Nor-.
_ ross at the time. - _
“Referring. to “Exhibit 201: “The situation’ ‘may “be.
‘. gummed up as follows,” says Dr. Bonger: “Undey, the ‘capit-'
” -alistic system the greater part of the” population; the part. |
’* upon whose labor the entire. social “fabric ‘is based, lives ~
under. the. most miserable . conditions.- The . proletariat - is;
badly clothed, badly. fed, miserably housed, exhausted by ao
-. , excessive” and. often deleterious labor, ‘ungé ‘to in- |
come, and ignorant.and cqarse.” You r , _
". “Proletariat.” - ‘Mr. ‘Andrews said: “All the} terms arehore
_ - Class. ny
‘ 2 Rs
* i . WIN: NIPEG STRIKE ‘TRIALS "
@
ry .
. spring, and gather materia] for building up the Roman
army. At that time it referred, strictly speaking, to citizens
of Rome who had. less than 1,500 asses. It is‘a word that
, has come to be, used by political economists through the last
‘-eentury- as referring particularly to the working class. You |
. will remember.Mr. Ivens making the distinction ‘between “
the industrial’ working class and the agricultural working»
ah,
Ss
?
>
- ~Bonger said: “Tye proletariat is badly clothed, badly -
» fed, niiserably ' housed, exhausted by excessive and often
deleterious: labor, uncertain as to income, and ignorant and
coarse. Up-to this point ‘I have béen speaking of the prole-
-tarian on the supposition that He has been able to. sell his .
. labor power. ‘But, as we have seen already, when this sale
is not ‘possiblé, he and his family\are left to their fate.”
‘I-am going to break off there, gentlemen, and Iam'.
going to bring to your attention the witness in the box—
’.Zaneth. You will-rémember I asked: “Is this what I said—
- Production-ismot undertaken for the sake of consumption
’ but for profit, so that the. man who believes that he has a - -
“good chance of improving his condition goes.to work and
produces without asking himself whether, there isneed of . .. -
° his product or whether he can meet the ‘required condi-
tions ; is that what-was said? -He said., Yes; you were al- ,
ways talking like that. ” Wouldn’ t it be sur rising* gentle.“
‘men, if you find that is a quotation taken word for word by
‘myself not very long ‘ago in this,court room from; Dr.
Bonger’s work. on- Criminology and. Economic Conditions?
’ He was sure that was what I said. “This then is what-free- -
dom of labor means, a freedom that the slave never. knows,
- freedom to die of hunger. .No one’ guarantees to the, work:. .
man or his family the means of subsistence, if for any rea¢
son, he is not able té:sell his labor. The slave owner had an
- interest in taking care of a sick slave, for the slave repre-
_ ceived that the interests of the employer are opposed* to .
. their-own, that.the cause of their poverty lies in his luxury...
sented value which he did not care to see diminished. , But
if a workman is sick he is discarded and replaced by
other. The sickness and‘ death of the laborer do not harm
the capitalist at all.” That is what Dr. Bonger said, the
most eminent criminologist of the present day. What more
does he say, gentlemen: “At length the workers Have per-
Sead
They have begun to set up opposition when they learn that °
by organizing themselves into labor unions they’ gain. a
'
°
a
.
S PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ’= BB
ae ‘power: By. which théy can ameliorate ‘their lot. The work no
longer being done separately, as in the time of the guilds,
but together, there has been this consequence for the
5 workmen, that being now in the same position with regard -
+:to the capitalist, and in the same social condition, they have
“gained in the feeling of solidarity and in discipline, two
conditions_which-are-essential_to—victory—in-the-struggle.
Little by little the workers have learned that their enemy .
is not their own émployer, simply, but the whole ‘capitalist
class. The strife has become a strife of classes.” You re-
_ member what my learned colleague Mr. Queen had to say
‘about that? His argument will suffice for me, gentlemen.
- “The means by which the working class attempt to bet-*
ter their position are of various kinds, First, there are the ©
unions, which undertake the contest for the shorter day .
and higher wages. Then*there is co-operation. and finally,
nd above all, politics. The movement for unions, which
cou ad notexist_wit without liberty of the press, of. meeting, ©
and of forming~as tions, forces the working man to
take part in politics.. At i when they. still had no clear
idea of the position they occupied im society, the working
men permitted other political parties to make use of them.
_ But coming to understand that the-laborers form’ a class
re
apart, whose interests are different from 1 those of other - -
” classes, they formed, an independent working»man’s party.
.« Finally, the contest: of the working class could not limit
itself to improvements brought about within the framework
‘of the existing economic system; if they wished to free
‘themselves permanently, they saw themselve* obliged. to
combat: capitalism itself. Thus modern Socialism was, born;
* on gne side from an ardent desire of the working ‘class to
freé¥itself fromthe poverty caused by capitalism ; on. the
other side fromthe development in the manner of capital-- ~ ,
istic production, in which small capital is abways conquered
by large capital. The conviction becomes more and more |
. general that capitalism has fulfilled its historic task—the
increase of the productive forces—and that the means of
_ production must Kelong to all if we are effectively’ to deliver
humanity from the material and intellectual miseries which
_ result from capitalism. The Labor movement blends itself
with Socialism, then, and thus social democracy becomes
the. political organization -of the working class.”
This brings mé.to another phase of this matter, gentle-
“men. I T have mentioned the letters, I -have mentioned the
‘
1:
~ -
54CiC; _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
. documents. Now, Crown Counsel select fromthese only
that which they considered to be fatal and damaging to us.
They might have called your attention to & fair average of —
the documents and letters; they might have given you a
coniprehensive view of the position. - ..
J_want_to_remind_you,_too,_of_that_point—which-has_so.
eften beer brought out in cross-examination, \that the mem- >-.
bers of the secret police, these raiders, these searchers,
* were acting under instructions to seize only what they con--
sidered useful to them. You remember what they considered
to be useful; what they eonsidered to be necessary. To my
mind, this, of itself, strikes me—I don’t know whether it
. gtrikes you or not—as showing the unjudicial and bitter
motives that have throughout been the incentive to this
prosecution. . _ a
It may be contended that the problems-and the strug-
‘gles of the working men in the factory, in the machine
shop, on the dock and in the mine are different from yours,
‘or different from the problems -that confront the tiller of
the soil. In doing this work, Crown Counsel, in several
_ instances, to my mind, overshot their mark. Remember -
5 _ what I told you of the supposed man. charged with horse
* -. “stealing.. Just hold that in-your minds. You remember the-
leading counsel for the Crown took something that he found
in a report of a convention and used it. I am not-in a posi-
tion to either deny or affirm that. I cannot give evidence.
But I want you to get this in your minds. Why was it taken
by the counsel’ for the Crown, whether it were true or-not,.
why was it taken by them and used in front of you as an
ingredient in a seditious conspiracy? Was their case so
weak, so vile in its character, and so crazy in its construc- _.
- tion-that they had to drag into use something which might
possibly’ prejudice your minds against me? If so be that
some of you-are religious, what can I say about it? I feel,
sometimes, gentlemen, that I cannot say another word. To -
take it out-of a report such as this. My learned friend Mr. ~
Andrews is welcome again to the consolation that comes to
him-from using this. And what have you? Granting it to -
be true—I can’t help you on that. What would it amount to ~
if you take the full 100 per cent. out of it, but this-—the
working man in the,convention, who works day after day
-in the. mines, ‘shops, on the’ dock, -in various . places—Mr.
' Ivens told you: they do not always use university language—
_ Well, and good—all it amounts to is this, gentlemen, that .~
SY
4:
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY BB
they used it against me, but ] am not ina position to deny it
- or affirm it—as Ihave told you all it amounts to is this, that -
_ in a Labor.convention I may have, used ‘certain language
that other gentlemen; even King’s Counsel, clothed in robes
of respectibility, can. use behind couped hands, I am not
_ peddling my morality, but -I ‘am _asking_you—now,—why
he-use it? Was it to,convince you that there was a
seditious conspiracy, or did he take the position of the
head_prosecutor in the case of the man who had stolen
the-horse and with’ a religious jury in-front of -him, he ~-
. said, gentlemen: “The man is charged with stealing a horse,
but he doesp’t read his Bible, or Pilgrim’s Progress; we ~
can’t prove to you that-he stole the horse, but the man
‘who does not read Pilgrim’s Progress must have. stolen
the horse and you must find him guilty.” There could -
be no other motive*for doing that! I want to tell you
that the man who descends to such depths in order to bolster.
‘up his case of conspiracy and would drag.a little thing like
_that in which is neither here nor there, and had nothing to
. do with the case one way or the other—blasphemy—it may
be, Gentlemen, te me blasphemy is not something -which is
framed in words, but something that is expressed in acts.
If the facts were clear, if the facts stood-out for themselves, | “
if the case were so“obvious as the learned counsel for the
Crown claims it is, gentlemen, he could at least have _re-
mained Crown prosecuter and a gentleman at. the same
: time and left irrelevant_matter out of it.
(Intermission of fifteen minutes)
t was ; telling. -you, gentlemen of the jury, that it seemed
_ to me in many‘instances the Crown had overshot its mark,
aud. there are the letters which the Crown said purported
to be letters from some individua) by the name of Beattie,
in-Coleman, Alberta, to some other person named Stephen-
gon, of Vancouver. And, vet, in these letters which ‘the -
Crown ¢laim are letters purporting to come from fthis.man,
_ ~and upon which. aid out .of which they have attempted to -
make yerymuch, you find in Exhibit 221—I am going to °
‘deal. with these; because Crown Counsel, af my _mematy
. serves.me right, said: “Look at Beattie! look at Beattie!
for he propaganda.” Yet, the evidence, gentlemen of the
‘jury, that such propagands—if that is the name you want
- to use~as was sent to him was sent.to-him affer he had
written the letters, not before; and in one of these alleged
.
t
. ; WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
letters, February 6, 1919,-Beattie appears to say to Stephen-
son: “We are, none of us, very well up in Socialism -and
would like to have some -system of educating ourselves at
our meetings.”
_ And then. the letter of April 22nd,.1919, Exhibit 235,
he appears to talk this way: “Our local is doing fine. We’
—have-33-members,but-the- economic-class- is-not-going-ahead
as ‘it should, but I think that is owitig*to not having a well .
~ enough informed comrade to expound the subject to us.”
‘
Then a letter of November 24, 1918, Exhibit 211, which
was read by Mr. Coyne, I think, and a lot made out of: “In .
the mine'I work in the sole topic of conversation, both going
in and coming out, is Socialism or Bolshevikism, and the.
last day I was there a proposition was pu forward that at
the next meeting we be allowed to d (meetings are
stopped just now on account of the ‘F{u’’) that we pass a -
resolution to- go before the next United Mine Workers’ of
America District 18 Convention to the following effect: That
we, the members of District. 18, U. M. W: of A., being so
disguted, etc. with the International Union, go over en bloc -
to the Industrial Workers of the World.” And the Crown
tried to impress you that these accused were part of a con- -
coction to link this up with the Industrial Workers of the
World. And they have used Beattie—poor misguided Beat-
tie—and they asked, or at-least they probably will ask:
“What did Stephenson’reply to him; why didn’t he answer
him this way ?” in the same manner in which they asked
concerning my wire to Berg: “Did Pritchard withdraw?” —
Surely, gentlemen, they cannot understand the working
class movement. '
Why do I belong to a Trades Union? Because working
at a certain job, and finding that.the workers on that job are
organized for their collective betterment, I join that organ-
ization. In fact, I might tell you that I could not work on
that water-front in Vancouver had I not been a member of
that organization. But in any case, there is the situation.
Why do I come together with my fellows into a Trades-
Union? Now then there are, in a Trades Union, all kinds of
men. I suppose—in fact, I was going to say I know—I
know some of the farmers of Alberta—however, you know
your own position, but in the United.Farmers’ of Alberta
there will be even Socialists, Conservatives, Liberals, men of
all political faiths, and some with no political faith at-all._
‘But what is it that binds them together in that Farmers’
A
. PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ~ : BT ..
Organization? Common intérest. The same with the Trades
. Unions. In Trades Unions there are men of all political
_ faiths, and some without political beliefs at ail. I might be
. @ member of a political party—a Socialist, and I might be .
president of the International _Longshoremen’ s—Association——_
———in Vancouver ; and the Business Agent, being a capable man
in doing his work, might be high in the circles of. the Con-
servative Party, and yet we are bound together with a com-
mon tie in the Trades Union. He works at the job; I work
at the job, and despite our different political beliefs we are
both bound together by this one thing, that is, the conditions
of work, the hours of labor, and the rates of pay.on that ~@
job. However much I might differ with him on other mat- -~
ters, I fight the best I know how for the betterment of con-
ditions and for the maintenance of our wage schedule. I
have that done right along: At the same time, on the floor
of this Union, when some hair-brained, loose-tongued an-.
archist gets up and presents his views, I can get up on the
floor. of, that Union and tell him they are entirely wrong in
.~ their premises, and that all this ranting and roaring about ~
' things will not, accrue with any benefit to themselves; they —
must get down and understand.what they are talking: ‘about.
If you come across 2 man who by the votes of the -
workers has been placed in a certain position, and you pos-
_ sibly by the votes of the workers have also been committed
to a certain job, and you find yourself in disagreement with |
this man, and if it is your duty to point out certain things
to him, you would do ‘that, wouldn't you, if you disagreed
with these individuals fighting in their own organization?
And what would you think of a person who would- come
along and say: “Qh, yes, you disagreed with them all right; -
you pointed out to them what you considered to be an‘error,
but you.didn’t withdraw.” Gentlemen, as a tian who must
work with my hands for my bread and butter, it is utter
nonsense to tell me that I must withdraw from the organiza-
tion of my class; that I must withdraw from the organiza-
tion that has been formed upon the job for the purpose of
‘maintaining certain conditions and guarantee to us a cer-
tain rate of pay. Even if the circumstances would allow you
to withdraw, isn’t it the part of wisdom to remain and fight? .
If these. men are off their foase, isn’t it the part of
the wise man, instead of driving them right to the wall,
instead of being domineering, \gs it were, all along the Tne, ;
to try and point out to them their errors?
~~ -
ww
aor - . y
— 1.
?
» 58 . WINNIPEG STRIKE” TRIALS
I will tell you when I come to it ‘shortly what would
happen in a working man’s organization, if at a meeting one.
of these individuals opened up, and instead of pointing out
the looseness of their logic and the falsity of their posi-
tion, you were to. take a club to them and tell them that
_they_are-brainless—fools——what—would-you have done? If
a
they are workers that satisfy the boss they will still stay
on the job, and consequently they will still stay in your
organization—and by hammering at them, repudiating
them, using a club to them, as my learned friend Mr. An-
drews suggested might have been done, I will tell you what
would have been accomplished. Instead of just having them —
as incipient anarchists, you would make them violent an-
archists, and you could never get them to Hsten to any of
your arguments any more. J have taken the position, that
although they may be mistaken, now and again these indi- °
viduals' show a desire to want to know something, and if:
_ they wish and desire to study, then allow them the possibil-_
_ ity of studying. Do not club them on the head all the time;.
ree neless: maintain your own position, if you consider it
right
‘After that interpolation I will come back to these let-
ters of Beattie’s, where he said that the Union of which he
was a member, somewhete in Alberta, disgusted with their
own International, with headquarters down in Indianapolis,
passed a resolution to go over en bloc to the LW.W. The
‘Crown gloated over that, and they threw out the inference,
as they have thrown out many inferences, like nooses that
they imagined would fit around our necks. But, gentlemen,
they remind me very much of the Indian who for the first
time in his life saw a locomotive tearing across the prairie.
He fad been used to. lassooing. He could run around and
lassvo a deer; lassoo a steer; lassoo a broncho; lassoo a.
buffalo; just. pull the horse back on its haunches and he
would have whatever he lassooed. But he threw the lassoo
_ once too often. It has seemed to me that the distinguished
counsel for the, Crown has thrown a lassoo once too often;
he threw it around the smokestack of a locmotive and*fig-
ured hé could stop it-—instead of that it pulled him off his
horse.
“They passed a resolution to go over to the LW.W.”
Poor, misguided Beattie, that we are told of, and concerning
which the charge is made that stuff was sent to him, and.
something else was done. What does he say about it ‘him-
~
. PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 69
_ self, foolish as he may, be, after, as I have already shewn to
you, stating and admitting that he doesn’t know very: much
about Socialism, and that it was hard to keep an economic
class going because they had not a well enough tread com-. .
rade to carry it on, bow dogs he finish up this part of his
letter ?—“While_I_agree-that-it-would-start something’ —
— that is’ another term that comes from the workshop—“and -
show that-we. were not satisfied with, thingsas they are, I
argued against the proposition, but made a poor showing.”
Then again, in his lettér-of November 24th, Exhibit
' 211, he says: “Hoping that if you have any more inferma-'
tion qn these subjects yqu will put us in the way. of getting .
it, with best personal wishes, I am.’ And then again in
_ another letter of February 6, Exhibit 221: “You might give.
me an outline of how these economic classes are conducted,
also what might be the most essential books to use in an
‘argument, while we knew we are right, there is too much
groping for wards to express what we mean, this leads to ' .
confusion, especially amongst the foreign-speaking com-
rades who only speak a little English.” an
- Naw, from what I have briefly given you as to the in-
dustrial working conditions, the-circumstances under which.
the modern-workers are brought up, you will have got the -
.idea of how anarchists are made sometimes, and the con-
ditions, particularly in the Western portion of North Amer-
' iea, which produce large numbers of modern workers, who,
-becoming disgusted with things as they see them, moving _
around from one.job to another, engaged in such johs that
they cannot get an organization of their own, in various
‘camps, in different works, where the worker-has ta move on
from one point to another, and he cannot: very well better
the conditions except he is on the job. I trust you follow me,
gentlemen, because when you have such jobs as these last-
ing four or five or six months, either you must take the con-
- ditions as you find them, ‘or else you must fight to better
those conditions, and by the time you have accomplished
something, you have to go somewhere else. That is the
reason why possibly so many of the workers in the places
. Where. I. have mentioned have been driven, from their
lack of knowledge af the character of the conditions which
they face, taward’ what I would call the violent, anarchist
school. I want to tell you, gentlemen,- sincerely, that —
knowing that they are being produceg by a. combina-
' tion of those circumstances, their own quarrels, and the
a
&
™
60 WINNIPEG- STRIKE Bus
nature of the conditions, I amr pleased to be able to say I
, am taking my little part in trying to rid them of their
ignorance. The man who is ignorant is oftentimes danger- ©
ous, and when such an one appears it is better to deal with
him and attempt to give him, such little knowledge as you
possess yourgelf.
Thave pointed out one oF two things about the working
class movement, and in this movement, in attempting
to give the working class education, the hardest fight that .
the scientific Socialist has—Mr. Jvens used that expression,
I don’t want to go to work to explain: it—just accept it as
it stands—the scientific Socialist has to wage is against the
violent type of anarchist, and the element that turns. to
sabotage, represented by the I. W. W. On the one hand, .
you have these individuals who are driven through a com-
bination of their own ignorance and the conditions under
which they work, into the school of sabotage and anarchy;
: on the other hand, you have individuals who form, I would
» »@ gall, the idealist anarchist school.
oa Perhaps it is not the place to’ say ‘so, but I would put
i a] Mr. Ivens in that school of idealists." The school to which I
* + belong is one which tries to explain the nature of conditions
to the idealist, and at the same time rob the violent anarchist -
- of his nonsensical ideas of. attempting to make progress by
a policy merely of ranting and destruction. But if we get
these men into our organizations, what can we do with
them? Take the organization like that one Ihave spoken
. of, with 1,500 members. You can easily see that all kinds
of men get into organizations like that. You would have at
least two or three anarchists in a group of 1,500 workers. -
When I say anarchist, I mean those who are anarchist in _
thought. You will have a number belonging to the Socialist
Party, and so on all along the line.. What are you going to
do? My position is to bey the regulations in the organiza-
tion of which I am a member, which circumstances compel
me to be a member of. Take the Socialist. Party, you saw
the application form.I gave you this mofhing. Men like™
- Beattie drift into your-membership at times: Then there
would be some of the other school drift into that party, and
realizing the policy, they honestly state their. lack of work-
ing class education. What would be your position, gentle-
men? The position that I take is that we should welcome
them if they show a desire to educate themselves. I might
; state that of such was this man Beattie. Of course, the
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . 61
. necessity of circumstances finds us unwillingly in the com-
pany of men-of these-different schools, just as in travelling
in a railroad train, and taking a quiet smoke in the smoker,
you might find yourself mixed up with a number of card”
sharpers and artists of that-kind:
' However, I pointed out that the counsel for the Crown
have made or have tried to make quite a lot of the anarchis-
tic remarks in Beattie’s letters, where he talks about “riots
. and petty revolutions.” I am going to deal with these things
because the Crown may come back and say Pritchard never
= - touched upon them when he was showing to the jury how.
the Socialist Party of Canada had contested- such, elections
as their finances would permit, all along the line. What does
he say, this man who says he knows very little about Social-
ism and who wants someone to come and tell him something;
that if. they only had somebody who knew something they
might be able to make more progress with the study
'- class. “The. remedy we all know of, capture the reins of |
Government, but how, certainly not by’ the ballot.” “The -
only way we will get anywhere is by, using force,” and so
’ on. And the Crown tried to gain a point by stating that _
‘ these sentiments were not combatted by Stephenson, whom
.- they claim to be the Dominion Secretary of the Socialist
Party of Canada. I have pointed out why such men should
not be combatted; I have pointed. out that when we meet
men with. energy. of, this kind it is a matter of grave
consideration to turn that energy in proper channels, not
oppose them to such an extent that they will make use a
of that efiergy in a false direction. When we find men who
’ desire to work, not only for their own education, but for the
education of’ those surrounding them, is it, gentlemen, good
policy to hit those men. over the head with a club? For if
you can get such an one with so much energy to study at all,: '.
even if it take a year or two years, if finally. you get a proper. ~
scientific concept into that man’s mind, what have you
‘done? You have taken a man who had given every, promise”
‘of being a violent anarchist and by your careful handling of
-guch a person, and by the methods yott have adopted in
educating him, you have made. of him another ‘educator,
who can turn around and deal with other anarchists in a
somewhat similar fashion.
I will leave that just as it is. However, we find amongst
the things that were sent to him, some leafiets, “Capitalist
Production,” by Karl Marx. (When Marx took up his studies
.
62 ' WINNIPEG STRIKE: TRIALS.
. where Ricardo left them off, he based his studies upon the
findings of Adam Smith and William Petty). Seme “Red ~
- Flags,” “Evolution of Man,” “Life and Death,”. and Mary
E. Marcy’s “Shop Talks on Economics. ”
Theré -is quite a little bit here on hate. The counsel
- for the Grown said that-we-were preaching hate; that—we
were preaching class hatred. I thought that the illustra-
tion-used ‘by Queen with the umbrella, was very apt. Gentle-
men, when you know the conditions of industrial life, if you
have any-sense at all, you will avoid preaching .hate;.you
will understand that out of the very conditions of life itself
- amongst mdiny workers hatred is developed, and-you' will
set yourself fo sfork, if you are honest, and endeavor to
explain to those”workers why the hatred exists. If you
. can explain to them why the hatred, exists, they will take
possibly the same position as I do myself. Ye
I.find myself in. opposition to these learned gentlemen
representing the Crown. You know how they were roped.
in by Mr. Queen, as the representitives of the Citizens’ -
. Committee. I thought that I. had, during my young life,
- seen a little of the actions of the profession in British courts.
I can remember, even now, the work done by Judge Parry
’ in Manchester, where everything possible was done for the ~
workers. Gentlemen, in an industrial dispute, such as the
one that existed here i in Winnipeg last year, where you find
the workers on one side, and, as the evidence was.explained ._
so clearly by Mr. Queen, on the other. side the Citizens’ -
Committee—you will remember Mr. Queen smilingly said’.
that the Defense claims Mr. Andrews, Mr. Pitblado, and
Mr. Sweatman, mentioned here, (in an Exhibit) ‘are the
- + game gentlemen- who appear. on the floor. of: this- court,
you remember that, gentlemen. The, Crown prosecutors “
were the opponents of the workers during that strike...
‘I don’t know, but I am rather of the opinion that were
such a situation to arise in the mother. country that no
member of that profession would ever ‘have placed him-
self in such an invidious position that suspicion could
' be cast upon him of being both persecutor and prosecutor
- at the same time; and, yet, with all that has been given
against me, all ‘that may have-been twisted,.the tactics —
. that have been used, I can tell you honestly,. gentlemen,
- I don’t ‘hate them. Of course, if there be a disagreement
between myself and any.other person on any matter of
‘human knowledge, maybe a little thing in scientific thought,
oa
co
f
Lo there ; us. “only ‘one’ reason why. myself and the other per- .
‘; son should disagree—we do not-both know the fundamient-
als; and that is the position I take in’ the working class
4 : - PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY - 63:
movement—there is_only-one-reason—why I disagree with |
Ivens on some point; there is only one reason why I should
disagree-with Berg; there is only* ‘one reason why -I might
- disagree with Johns. That reason is;- ‘gentlemen, that one of
-us does not: know enough about the matter. I always take
. the. position that progress can be?made by myself. taking
the position that I do not: know enough, and the only way to
“ “progress in knowledge is to discuss ‘the points at issue and -
thresh everything out. -Because I- discuss thosé things,.
because I might fight with those individuals on those points: ~~
' ig no reason why I should hate them. I- might fight with
.them, in fact I’might carry that a little further—I am ~
going along in-the Summer.time-and I am annoyed by the
attentions of a cloud of mosquitos; I don't like their buzz- :
ings or their attentions, and- while I might turn. around
and swat the mosquito to save. myself, I do not hate the _
mosquitos; I know they develop in the swamps. I. don’t ,
hate these. persons, gentlemen, hecause: when a man pro- ;
“gresses in. knowledge he will cease to hate.
I just want to. read’ this little: extract in | connection 7
with that argument. It is an article by Thorstein Veblen, in
. the “Red Flag,” of March 15, Exhibit 487. “Bolshevism is-
: 8 Menace—to Whom? ries This ‘article appeared in the. New.
7 York “Dial,” February. 22. “The transportation system
tinuance ‘of military: operations goes to. show that much.”
* (He was a professor-in the Chicago University). “Also the
crop year of 1918 is known to have been rather exception-"
“ . does not.a .to have predisely ,broken down.. The con: *
-.ally. good in Evjropean- Russia on-the whole, so that there | 7
will be at least a scant sufficiency of food stuff back in the.
country and available to that portion. of the population who
- can get at it. Also it will be noted that by all accounts the
. civilian population of the cities has fallen off to.a fraction
. ofits ordinary number by way of removal to the open coun
try or “foreign parts.” Without quoting-any more.I can
give you the gist of it. He shows that the position in . ~~
European Russia causes a whole number of vested interests, |
outside of any. consideration of the facts—that that very.
position causes: them to. hate that thing. ‘That bears out . 7
ae
. the argument I have been- ‘offering.
na
7) _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
The way to do away with hate is-to clear. the Toad for
- . an' understanding.
. It may be urged that our. industrial system is not 80°
bad as it is in England. It may be. But during the days of -
‘the 1918 panic, when_jobs_were- scarce-and- men were plen-
=“tiful, and the boss came along and said: “Tom, Dick, Harry,
_ you will have to lay off,” he didn’t hate those fellows. They.
, could turn around to him and say: “What is the matter;
_ anything the matter with my work?” “No, we are slack—
3, that’s all.” “What are you slack for?” “Well, there are no
‘* orders coming in.” “Yes; why don’t you send ‘somebody out -
and find some orders? or “We have done that; we have
. drummers all over the world and they cannot find a market
for our goods; in fact they tell us there are too many of .
our goods upon the market, already ; you will have to lay
off.””’ Why? Not because there is a shortage of stuff, gentle- :
; ‘men, but because there is an over-production, and in every’,
. one of those crises that is the position of quite-a‘number‘of..
workers; told by their master they: must layoff ; the. master’. ;
doesn’t hate them, and we. will admit for the sake of argue.
ment that they do not hate the master—but there is the:
situation. Having produced too-much they can -now tramp :
_ back and forth looking for another job. Thousands of them: .
“were in that position. We haven’t given the attention to: i
some of these problems confronting society that we might .
have done, because an’ all-absorbing commercialism has :
everyone of us in its’ grip. As Mr. Queen pointed out to |.
you—TI might call him my learned colleague; or I might call *
_ him my learned plug friend, arid” he would understand that
and wouldn’t hate me because I used that term—the scene
at the factory gate, with one job open, and three men for
the job. What is the position, gentlemen? ‘I don’t hate you.
and you don’t hate me, buf I will take two of. you out of
that: box, one man from that side,.and oné-man from ‘this '
side, and I stand here, as I have pointed out before, right on
the dock, offering myself. for sale for a job, and all. the.
gangs have been picked, and there is only pne more man to
be picked. They want a trucker for No. 5 gang—there are
‘three of. us. I don’t hate you and. you don’t hate me, but
there is the situation, gentlemen. You have a wife and fam-
ily; I have a wife and a family, and we stand there and
there is only one job; and. ‘your wife and family mean more
to you than they do tome; my-wife and family mean more to
me than your wife and family mean to me. I don’t hate you, oo
ei
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66 _ _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
o
— “any man can become what he likes, anything at all.” ”
Just ‘think for a moment ; just. let that sink in. Gentlemen,
_ take it home to yourselves. How many farmers on this bald |
rairie,raising grain, does it take to make a coupon-clipper_
¢
=~
+
inNthe wheat pit of Chicago? Every’ man that goes into
the British army has ii chance to become field marshall—
~how many" ~wenerals,- colonels, majors, eaptains, right away. .
down the line to “buck” privates does it take to make a
field marshall? You point to the initiative,of the millionaire, .
_who became great by his own integrity and braifis. ‘He isa -
“millionaire in what?" In copper. A copper’ king on Wall
Street. How many toiling slavés ‘in the hills ‘of British
Columbia and Montana are necessary to make a’ copper -
King?) How many workers in the ‘Southern States in the .-
cotton fields does it take to make a cotton king? How many
farmers With. mortgages on their farms and-collection bills
- from the machinery companies against them does it take
‘to make a-wheat king ?—a man who may not be able to tell
a grain of. wheat from a grain of-barley,.but who is content
to gamble upon wheat, upon the wheat ‘exchange of Chicago, '
New York, Manchester. And as you belong to. that vast .
army of toilers who produce: wheat, I belong to that other .
vast army of industrial w ‘orkers. whose every energy makes
_ possible the existence of some ¢léver, marvellous individual,
who has become king in a certain’ realm by virtue of his own ~~ -
‘effort? I know if I “were John D. Rockefeller I could only |
hold ‘my position as such so long ‘as there were crowds
“beneath me toiling in my mines, and-toiling in my mills.
Tt is effrontery, gentlemen, -to go down.and ‘tell those
workers: “You can all become liké me if'you try hard
enough.” Did you ever run a race at school?: I did. There
are ten’ of you running} one first -prize. Somebody wins.
There it is. Along comes a philosopher. He.does not-have-to————
think very hard on his daily problenis. You canie in. sixth
-or seventh. And he looks at you: “Well; well; you made a
fine exhibition of yourself, didn’t youtayhy didn’t you win?”
“Well, the other fellow ran faster than’ me.” “Why didn’t
You run faster than him?” And suppose you had, then the .
man who hadn’t won would have the same argument against. .
him: “You must run faster than the other fellow.” .”
‘Mr. Ivens:mayhave told you, I think he did, that he’
class homés. Itris not because gf the tyranny of the capifal- ,
_ist, nor because of tHe unworthgness of the workers that the.
_,
& as staggered at the cathe he found in certain working
AL . . an
~ ’
'
an
situation is what it is—it is simply bécause of the develop-
ment of industry itself from the simple tools that | were held~
by the worker, changing and dev eloping-from- point-to= oint
oh
“until we get modern industry.
, Here is the view that we take. We go back into the day
of the old gilds, when capitalism was only just being born.
: It may be urged that we have always had capitalists. I fall
back again on the authority of Professor De Gibbins who
showshow capitalists were coming into power only two or
three centuries ago, and as they gained in economic import-
ance they carried on a ‘political fight with the then rulers, the
landed ‘aristocrats: There is one thing that individuals who
have received the slightest schooling in the town from
whence I come, can never forget. Take 1649, when the
-Stuarts were superseded by the Cromwellian commonwealth,
and the political power of the old rulers was broken, and the
political power of the new group was made effective, and
_how later on a second Stuart was removed from the Throne -
in the persoii of James II. What do the histories say about
that? hey call that, gentlemen, the great revolution. Did
‘you ever hear of such terms? Here are the terms that are
being used against us today, and yet that event, which
@ngels refers to as a puny event, that event of 1688, when '
-~ James II. was compelled to abdicate, and I- understand, .
dropped a golden key in the waters of the THames when he
“erossed over in a boat, after his abdication,
THE COURT: I ‘always thought he didn’t stop ‘to. ab-
“ dicate. He stood upon: the order of his going, .but he
went.
MR. PRITCHARD: Yes, I agree ‘with’ Your Lordship
«on that histori##l-point ; he commenced to go and he got out,
"_-but if that igenot abdication, I don’t know if that is the
~ position Your "L6 rasTp takes——
THE COURT?” He didn’t stop; he didn’t wait to abdi-
cate. And they were,all glad to see him go.
MR. PRITCHARD: Yes, he went anyway. The point’
I'was trying to show was that he went in 1688. Really the
first act of the new mopagch was the bringing in of another *
piece of the written p art of the British constitution, the
-Bill of Rights in 1689.
Heré4s a cobbler working with Ris hand tools, and he —
makes a: complete pair of boots. Here is the journeyman
carpenter, with asfull kit of tools and he makes everything.
He will turn the newell on the staircase, and he makes the .
Soy P
PRITCHARD’S*ADDRESS TO JURY: _ 67.
~
4 14
- 68 AVINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS - *
handrails, and the sills and the doors by hand tools. Here
is the old weaver, as you may find them yet in the garrets of,
-some‘old country town, weaving silk with a simple hand or
foot loom. Simple hand tools, owned bt those who used them.
In-those days of simple Hand tools everything belonged to ©
those who used those tools. Times change. Industry devel-
- ops. Wemay say that the workers were divorced from those
“tools, forced from them—and when J use the term force,
I do not necessarily mean Intimt Hating force; I don’t mean
the same kind of force that is sed.when one prize fighter ,
wives another prize fighter a black eye: But the workers
were divor\ed from their tools. Why? Because the age of -
inventors came, und Arkwright, Crompton and others in-
vented the spinning jenny and the power. loom, and in the
hands _of thase who controlled them compelled the owners
~ef the simple tool to Jeave those tools and gather together
in the master’s factory. Instead of being themselves pro-
ducers, they became part and parcel of machine production.
Our contention is this, gentlemen, that with every
change in those tools, there has been’ a change ¢ m the owner-
eship of them; there has’ been’ a change In the political con-
“ditions arising: fr om ‘those methods of production.
Simple production, personal ownership; and we leave
the day of the simple tool and we come to the day of the
factory, where the power is supplied maybe by the wind,
maybe by the water-wheel; ownership by ‘the individual .
master of his factory. That again is superseded by the joint
stock company, and the application of steam power to indus-
try. Again those old tools become obsolete, and their owners
are divorced from them, forced from them, not because—
someone takes them by the nape of the neck*and drags them
away from them, but simply because the newer tools coming
into existence, and supplying the market vheaper, render
the’ other fellow useless as a competitor in that market.
Then, from the joint stock company there comes finally
the trust, the vast combination, the merger. Every change
that has taken place in those changing relations between:
those tools andthe owners, and between the owners and the.
workers who merely operate them, and every change that. °
has’ taken place all down along that line, has been a change
| in the ownership. We, today, stand. in front of that mighty
machinery capable of supplyi ing the world’s needs in shor tex
time than ever before in history. We look back~along. the
line and we see the “simple hand tools, then the power
a .
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 69
machine in ‘the factory; then we see the mighty industry”
with motor/power supplied by steam and electricity, and we
_ find ourselves today standing in front of the combinations,
trusts-and-mergers, in short, practically the entire world’s
resources in the hands of a huge financial oligarchy, and
that is what we mean when we refer to the capitalist class.
Take the little fellow who tries to run a-grocefy store
on the corner, working very hard to make a living; or the
fellow maybe on a quarter section of land trying to make
ends meet, getting up at two or three o’clock in the morn-
ing, getting to the elevator to sell his wheat before the other
fellow. And you know how in those dark cold mornings you
would set out and you would try to be at the elevator first |
so that you would sell your wheat—you know something of
that fight, that is the fight of the workers with one another
‘as they try to sell themselves at the factory gate. You
realize that kind of thing cannot go on eternally. What is ~
the use of each of us trying to_get ahead of the other fel-
low, when there will always be some fellow who will lose
out after all. So the farmers’ organizations spring into ex-
- istence, in order that they may use their collective éfforts to”
make such conditions ‘in the wheat market as they consider
necessary for the selling of their wheat.
But as we follow that line of history, gentlemen, and
we see that the machinery- of production has changed hands
from one group to another and is now in the hands of mighty
corporations, are we to take the position that although there
has been a change in the ownership of the tool in the past,
that there can be no more: change in theSownership of the
too], or in the nature of the tool? The world will not stop.
The world will not stop even if we do, gent n. But I take
it that the wise man is not the-man who Rises to go for-
ward in a world that insists upon moving. The wise man
is the man who tries to keep pace mentally with the develop-.
ment of society in its industrial process.
And we urge, and it has been urged by others years
ago-in-a Utopian form, urged often by the founders of the
Rochdale Co-operatives, that there should be the greatest
.. good to the greatest number, that the motive should be pro-- |
_duction for use rather than ‘production | for profit; that the
vast machinery of production that-is in the hands of a fin-
-ancial few should be vested in the entire people, and that is
- what you have heard, that is what has been urged for quite
a time. .Gentlemen, in putting forward such a view, I am
“s
=
\
wf
°
- 70 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
going to ask you, do you think there was anything seditious 2
Yet vou will come across in this literature, the phrase:
“Production for Use,” with a blue mark around it. Do you
think-there is anvthire seditious in that?
TI don’t know why my learned friends should so seek
to entrap me: why they appeur to hate me. Gentlemen, here
Tam. It means something to me. It may mean something
.to you. Iam feeling very strongly about it. I know and you
know how the farmers in Ontario swept the boards, and it
was this same Arthur Mcighen, who turned loose .his ora-
torical flood-gates avainst those farmers
MR. ANDREWS: My Lord, there is no evidence of
THE COURT: What is this?
MR. ANDREWS: The accused is trying Arthur
Mejghen. Says he turned his flood gates loose on the farm-
ers of Ontario. We are not interested in that issue.,
THE COURT: I told Pritchard we were in a court of
justice, not at a political meeting. You know, if I were in
a political meeting and not a judge I might: agree with
_ Pritchard in some of his political attacks, but this is not a
political meeting, and Iam a judge, and. I must conduct
the court according to the proper procedure.
, MR. PRITCHARD: IT understand perfectly, My Lord,
‘ Tam in a court of justice: and with due deference to vour- °
self I want to make this remark. I understand that perfectly
that I am not in a political meeting. I know that.
‘ THE COURT: Sometimes I wish I were. °
MR. .PRITCHARD: So do I, My Lord, and then I could’
. say What I like about some of these individuals around me.
-Possibly-at the next election we may have a chance. I seem
to be better known in Winnipeg than I am at home.: But -
there was no evidence in this court-for Mr, Andrews to say |
that Mooney was a member of the.I. W. W. .
MR. ANDREWS: I will undertake ‘to find that from
_the literature in this court.
MR. -PRIFCHARD: That may be so: I also find from
the evidence that he was a member of the Moulders’ Union,
and Business Agent for the Street Railwaymen of San
Fracisco.
/ +s THE COURT: There is also ev ‘idence that hey was con-
victed of something:----—-——
MR. PRITCHARD: And ee Iv ens sought to establish
that President Wilson did not think that was right.
this.
e
_” ry . a
. | PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY 71
THE COURT: I don’t think he established it very well.
MR. PRITCHARD: No, I think he was stopped, but
that is not worrying -me, My Lord. Of course, it is too late
now to watch for and_stop the counsel_for the Crown—when
he was making some of his wild statements. I was merely
referring to ‘something that is well known; Your Lordship
,said that we all know that Charles I. lost his head.
-THE COURT: But that is so long ago people are not
disputing about it. When history has become of some
ancient date, that may be referred’ to, but that is all in
_the discretion of the jury,.as I take-it, as to whether such
a thing ought to be referred to or not. ‘
“MR. PRITCHARD: It is a matter of history that the
Farmers of Ontario took the Provincial Election.
.THE COURT: .I never stopped you on that.
MR. PRITCHARD: Immediately following those elec-
tions it is a historical fact that the Honourable Arthur
Meighen launched a broadside’against those farmers. I don’t
know that myself. I only know the thing by a newspaper.
THE COURT: Any time a newspaper says anything
. about. what I happen to have said, they don’t say it exactly
as I have said it. We can’t rely on newspapers for the sins
. gf Arthur Meighen.. He may have never said that; we don’t
. know.
MR. PRITCHARD: I find myself in that position, itoo,
My Lord, about the newspapers.
Gentlemen of.the jury, it seems I cannot tell you what
the Honourable Arthur Meighen launched in Ontario. .
THE COURT: ,If:I were chairman of a political meet-
hig I would be inclined to Jet you go on, but I am not, and
‘we must not, attack parties here.
. MR. PRITCHARD: If you were chairman of a political
~-meeting, My- Lord, I think you would have to let me go’on. .
'. THEGOURT: i might put you out. I can’t very welld-
dor ‘that “Here/
~'xMR. PRITCHARD: No, I “don’t think you would “put
me out.” Of course, Your Lordship did not mean that when
you spoke about putting me out.
‘ + THE COURT: I said I might; it would depend on how
you conducted yourself. ‘N ext to Queen you are doing pretty
we
“MR. PRITCHARD: I am not ashamed of being har-
nessed to Queen since I have come to know him.
WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
Gentlemen of the jury, there is a word that has been
used by the Crown, and it seems to have been blue-pencilled _
__wherever it is discovered—it is the word “Revolution.” To
the popular mind I suppose it can be given a sinister mean-
‘ing. Iam going to tell vou what the word means, consider-
ed historically. I‘read to vou from various exhibits, “Social-.
ism, Utopian and Scientific,” was ‘one of them, to show you
the méaning of that term. I also read from that Exhibit at
wreat length to show the development of what he called
_ scientific Socialism in the introduction, to show you what
the work meant. I explained to vou it Was an abridgment
of a larger work Which Engels launched as a polemic against
a Berlin professor: that it has had a world-jide distribu-
tion for years, particularly in British possessions. And you
remember that told you even, then that the historian
Toynbee spss th “Industrial Revolution,” as being a
~period of change ih industry from 1760 to 1840.
+} In the English anguare the term “Revolution” is used
for all kinds of things. What we mean by it will be shewn
when I deal with the history of the term revolution. The,
“s daily motion of the earth we call a revolution; the move- <e
“ ment of the earth around the sun we call a rev olution, . “It:
was considered: that William Morris, the Socialist write?,
who loved the beautiful for the sake of the beautiful, made -
a revolutionary change in the art of printing.
Revolution means a change which comes at the end. of
a line of growth or evolution, and the scientist, insofar:as-I
can see, when he.looks into the world of material things
around him, does not distinguish evolution from’ revolution.
That is growth from change. He sees them as parts, one
of another. Even in the article which has been given. here
as an Exhibit, “By which means—evolution or revolution,”
you will see the same thought expressed and made clear.
’ And keeping in your mind what I said before, that Marx and
Engels, as students in the early days, could see ev ene then-—
when the working class had obtained only a "partial franch-
-ise—because of ‘the nature of the conditions in Britain,
because of the traditions of the British working class, this
revelution which they looked forward to would come about
peacefully in Britain. I referred to that revolution when I
got into controversy with. His Lordship about whether
‘James II. abdieated or just run away—a glorious revolution
—-no one hurt. James II. just rowed himself across the
river Thames in a boat. .
t
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ; 73
. Go back again to that little piece of literature that has
been used against me, and you will understand all this then.
When. does it say: “A grain of wheat that falls into the
ground and diés will spring forth-a-~hundred-fold.t-_What-is__—.
that? Revolution. Where the thing kills itself in order to |
appear later on in greater fruition, a hundred fold. You
had Mr. Ivens running’ around your barn yards collecting
eggs and bringing them before you as a conspiracy amongst
‘the hens. You know that process, gentlemen, but I know
‘now that hens lay eggs, and that from eggs come chickens..
Scientific facts; what is the process’? The egg is laid; the
old hen sits upon that egg and destroys it by the process of
hatching. The period of evolution is there; there is the slow
growth; the growth of the chick inside the shell until at a
certain point in its growth it is faced with that condition,”
either it dies in its shell or breaks -the shell; and the sens-\_..
ible chick wants to live, pecks at the shell, breaks the shel, .
and the only thing that is hurt is the shell—revolution.
Gentlemen, that is a revolution in the organic world. The
chicken might either bite its way out or die inside the shell,
and we poor deluded Soéialists,; with our false theories: on -
economics, we cannot look at that vast machinery of pro-
duction and say it can continue in the world and func- |
tion as it is in the hands of its present masters; that a ©
change is inevitable; that to continue-as we have continued,
to allow things to go along as they were, as. they existed
’ pefore the war, is impossible; that they can no longer guar-
antee a living wage to the worker and at the same time keep
piling up interest on their bonds; and that society is faced
with the question that the chicken is faced with in its pro-
cess of development, the question of either bursting its shell .
and making the change or dying inside the shell. It is nota
matter of hate. It is a matter of growth. You may know
something about chickens. You may know something about
-cattle. Now, if there be anything sacred, these are the
things, gentlemen, that are sacred. They are not matters of -
jest to me. I am going to take you back on your old farm
again. You know what it is to be kept up at night because
of trouble withthe old cow. In perfect obedience to the Law
‘of life that cow is about to calve: Should we hide that? It
ig a fact known to everyone of us who has come to the years
- of understanding. People may laugh at this illustration. I
don’t. It is no laughing matter for the cow anyway. But
_ what happens after a certain period of growth? There is
2 . : sf
74 -. WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
a birth; there is a new being: ‘instead of the old cow alone
' there is the old cow and one other, her calf. The Law of
change has been at work; that Law ~which you can see
working throughout: everything in the world—birth—
growth—decay. And the Law that works upon men and
_upon women and upon chickens and upon cows, works upon
social epochs. upon society—hbirth—grow th—decay. And I-
want to tell vou, gentlemen, when they see the- calf along: ..
side of the mother cow, they: can write whatever Laws’ they
like; they can refuse to see What is taking place in front of -
them; they ean do what they like, wentlemen, but they can-
_ not put that calf back.
_And the new conditions that have arisen confronting
_ the workers here, there and everywhere ‘else, are the. pro-
duct of conditions which existed before them, like,.the calf.
-was the product-of the cow. You can’t put the calf .back,
and you can’t put the conditions that have grown out of
* previous conditions back again. You can't turn the clock of
time back again. Let me try to state it, these are the things
that we can see; these are the, things we, attempt tO ex-
‘plain; we go along and we Can see that change is taking
place all around us, and we can see that some great change
-is coming within the next-ten, twenty, thirty, forty or fifty
years, but-we can see it just as we can follow thé growth of
a chicken or a calf, we can follow the growth of human
society and we can see those changes. -
We are doing our little bit to explain those things, and -
as Mr. Queen said; if the shower can'be seen to be coming,
we are doing our best to tell the people to get out their
umbrellas. If we can see tha¢the calf is to be born, we are
‘doing our best to ask those around us to prepare a place for
that calf.
That w ord “Rey olution” has been taken as though it
meant “violence, bloodshed, anarchy, chaos} as though it
meant everything that could be combed together from the -
calendar of crime, and you are asked to believe that that
is what we mean by the term “Revolution.” It has been
used by historians all along the line to indicate certain great -
political changes or certain great industrial changes. That -
is the sense in which we make use of that term.
Now, I come to another point. Gentlemen, surely, in the -
last eight weeks you have heard almost everything that
you could hear that was bad about me. You have had a most
terrible picture painted of myself, and of Queen. Could
ate
’
«
-PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY _ 15
you not see that he was a member of the working class?
- [know His Lordship, possibly from the best of motives,
_told you that he often had asked that we have counsel, that
—w e-be-represented -by_counsel at the Bar. -You heard Queen
give his story of his position. Do you think that-any coun-
sel at the Bar could have told you of the things that Queen
‘knows from his experience hike Queen did it? “Why have we
come before you? I want to let you know, gentlemen, the
kind of men we are. You can judge for yourselves. As far”
as I am concerned, gentlemen, whatever you decide I am
- satisfied, but I want you to see, I want the world to see if
it may be, what character of men we are. Was it not said
of Paul and his colleague: “These men have turned the
world upside down?” I remember when he went into Ephes-
us—lI don’t care whether he did or not, there is the story—
and the silversmiths and the lawyers and the Citizens’
Committee of Ephesus ran around crying: “Our calling is
in danger! Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” 2
I am going to let you know what kind of men we are.
i want you to judge as to whether or not we are speaking
. ‘the truth. I want you to judge as to our sincerity. And we
want? foi to decide upon the evidence, from what’you know,
lard” from what you have seen, whether or not any criminal
intent actuated us in anything that we have done or said.
7 I don’t want to talk about myself, but I must do it~
‘more or less since someone else has talked about me. Coun-
sel for the Crown do not claim that I was at the Quebec
‘Congress in 1918. Why?. Because they could not,find it so.
1 am going to ask you, gentlemen, to assume that I was not.
. ‘They do not claim that I was at the Alberta Federation of
«Labor in‘the city of Medicine Hat. I am going'to ask you
‘to use the same reasoning on that point. They do not claim
ithat I was in the Coal Miners’ Convention—I forget. what
date it was—at the City of Calgary. I am going to ask
‘you to use the same reasoning on that. They do not claim
that I was at the Walker Theatre or the Maj estic Theatre.
‘meetings. .
You have evidence given in court by Mr. Andrews him-
-self that Pritchard is just as much responsible as anyone
‘else for the riots of June 10th, although he did not come into
‘the city until afterwards. I was wondering where I could
‘prove to you as to the time I came into the city. My learned
friend gives evidence and I am willing to accept it—what
did he say, ‘gentlemen: “If we had no: other evidence than
76 WwW INNIPEG 3 STRIKE TRIALS ©
- the Walker Theatre meeting, we contend that is evidence
:
Me
enough weamst the tecused-_What_do_yon ‘think of that?
. December 22° 1418. There is no ‘evidence to show that I-
even knew where the Walker Thehtre was, or even just
where Winnipes was. , -
THE COURT: I think. we will adjourn.
(Court adjourned at 6 p.m., March 23, 1920)
* MARCH 23rd, 1930, 8 P.M.
_ MR. PRITCHARD: We were discussing, gentlemen of
the jury. prior to adjournment, the fact that the Crown did
“not contend that I was present at the Quebec Conference or
other different places that are mentioned in this indictment,
and ever mentioned in evidence by the witnessés brought.
in by the Crown. They do contend—I am perfectly willing
to admit it—that I was at the B.C. Federation of Labor
Convention. T was also at the Western Calgary Conference, .
I must deal with that per sonally. My. Trueman dealt with
it at some Jength and I do not’ want to go over any ground,
that has been touched by any other speaker.
‘It must be.tiring to you, gentlemen, after eight or nine
weeks listening to this kind of stuff, and indeed it may be
tiring to-me also, and I wish to make my remarks as brief
as I can and yet state my position and do my duty to myself _
and those dependent upon me.
I stated that I have been placed in a position where I
had to defend, as it were, the history and literature of the
two -movements—the Trades Union Mov ement and the
Socialist Movement. I tried to explain as well as I could
some of the terms that are used in Socialist: literature,
terms that are used on-the Socialist platform, terms which
are used even today, gentlemen, in the literature and-on the
'- platforms of the Socialist Patties i in Britain—exactly similar
language. .
In one’ of the ‘Exhibits I ‘noticed the Platform of the
Socialist’ Party of Great Britain, almost identical with the
platform of the Socialist Party of Canada; so with the other
parties, the terms used—used for half ~a=century—are
dragged into a court in Manitoba. to be given a twisted .
meaning.
When we deal with the history of Trades Unionism
and the working ¢lass movement, I want to go over a few
-. .PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY . 2° 77
re |
of the things that ‘are necessary to an. understanding of the
development of the movement. I want yousto be patient
with—me.—tI_hawve_tried_several times to take” wyour minds
€
along with mine in unfolding the story of the devélopment
of the machine. Now, that “machine. grows in complexity, -
and society periodically adjusts itself to the changed condi-
tions produced by that changing machine, just as the chick-
en stepping out of the shell steps out to y new environment.
One of the most important things for us to understand,
first of all, is that man is a social being, and that for his
..éontinued existence he needs at least food, clothing and
shelter, and that by social instinct he is what biologists
, Call gregarious. The more complex the social order becomes,
“the closer grows the relation between the individual .mem-
bers of society.
’ 4. Gentlemen, when a man understands the’ significance
of the fact that man, as an individual, is a social being, that’ - ,
wery moment he takes issue with the anarchist, and that
“very moment he takes issue’ with those who desire disrup-
- tion and disorder in the machinery. the world must use for
the maintenance of humanity. It is a complex machine and’
its parts are interelated each with the other: Of course, I
know ther®’ used to be a little song about the independent
farmer. You know that is not sa, gentlemen. The farmer as
a producer is useless without the miner, without the man in |
- the shop, the maker of the ploswshare and the maker of the
machine. None of us are independent; we are inter-depend-
ent upon another.
This afternoon [ took you along with me up to the dis-
covery and use of steam, its application to industry; that
point brings us to the time where division of labor’ developed
in industry ; individual workmen were. forced by circum-
stances from their simple tools in the shops, even as the
serfs, driven off the common lands during the reign of
_ Henry VIIl., were forced into the towns and the factories,
-and there arose a combination amongst workmen, and that
combination came to be known asa Trades Union. In touch-
ing on the Law, I do not want to take the position of a mem-
-ber of the honorable profession—I have told you I know
very little about it—I want you to just follow me in its his-
tory, not to deal with these things as legal instruments, but .
with pie power of certain economic movements which cause
Laws to be enacted. I do‘not want to deal with them as they
“stand on ‘the: Statute Books as legal. instr uments; but there. .
4
78 * WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
is a “history of Law, and reasons exist for the introduction
. of certain statutes. We take. England for our examples,
’ because it is the classic round “of industry. For instance
. the grow th of the. Trades Unionist Movement. In 1799,
cwentlemen, there was passed what were called the Anti- -
combination Laws—39 George IIL, chap. 18, 39-40—106. T-
am not concerned, gentlemen, with those Laws as legal
instruments, but as a working man studying history, I am
concerned with the fact that they were passed through the .
‘influence of great employers and against the working man,
and they were launched par ticularly against a society known,
as’ the Institution of Halifax. This institution was, in.1796,
one of ‘the trade associations, extending over a wide area.
What was the result of, the passing of the Law, gentlemen?
The working men of that time evaded that Law by simply .
- turning their ‘Trades Unions into’ friendly societies, and -
this very institution, the Institution of Halifax, fell back
upon. the old statuté of Appzerftices, 5th Elizabeth, C. 22, 2
and.3, Phillip & Mary, C. 11, and under the old Statutes of
Apprentices they secured repeated verdicts against em-
ployers. In 1802, the employers secured a temporary sus-
. pension of. the Statutes of Apprentices and they were fin- ©
"’. ally repealed in 1814. It was, at this time, under the impulse
of the rapidly developing large industry of which I have .
spoken to you, that the employers seized upon the political’
teachings of Adam Sntith, and they used the arguments of .
Adam Smith, for the abolition. of the. Statutes. of ‘Appren- - -
‘tices. I have told you a little of combiration,.and the-reason
for combination. Combinations of the weak against the
strong are as old as human society—combinations of men
against others in order to ‘preserve themselves. Right
through the middle ages, combinations are seen time and
time again. ‘The Craft Guilds themselves arose as an ex- ©
pression of resistance to the oppression, of the burgesses.
- The burgesses were the townsmen of those dark Middle
Ages. And these very: Craft. Guilds, when they became
tyrannical, were in turn opposed .by the Fraternity of
Journéymen. I want you to get that in mind, and then you
will understand why the Trades Unian Movement grows and
develops and changes its form, so that by the combination |
‘of the weak against the strong they ‘may be-able to hold’
‘their corner, if I’may use that term. I want.to use it in
dealing with the One Big.Union, because in that we contend
that if the workmen are to have any chance at-all in the’ :
« ' re a.
“ PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY : 79
matter of rates of pay anc conditions of work, then they
must themselves make the combination, since the masters
themselves already. are in a One Big Union of their own.
One big union of financiers; one big union of Canadian
_Manufacturers:. one_big—union_in—all_other_lines,_demand——
that our divisions in the working class movement be broken
down and that we come together making an effective com-
bination again of the weak-against the strong.’
Going back to those times of which I.was recently
_ speaking, there were Laws designed to destroy the combin-
ation, of w orknien, Laws of marked sev erity.. These are in
- thé year 1800, George TIL, Chap. 106, in answer to peti-
tions from’ employers. This made all ‘trades combinations
illegal (similar to Napoleon’s Penal Code, 1802). By this .
Law, workmen were prohibited from getting an advance-.
- ment of wages or “Altering the usual time of working, on
pain of imprisonment.”
; In similar fashion it wag enacted that every journey-:
man who shall enter into combination to obtain an advance
in wages, or lessen the time or hours of working 6ér‘shall. .
by solicitation or intimidation or.any other means endeavor
_ to prevent. ahy unemployed workmen from hiring to any
manufacturer. shall be subject to a like -penalty.:
- Do, you see the drift of the argument? There should :
be imprisonment for a.period not exceeding three calendar
‘months ‘or not more than two months with hard Jabor. I
not concerned with the Law, but with what happens in
tory. For the result, of this Law, gentlemen, which I’
have already told you’ was expressly designed by the’em- .
ployers and passed following a petition by these.employers
to put an end to strikes altogether at-that period. Gentle-
men, this Law is a remarkable example of the usual effect of.
_such measures and holds a close analogy to the’ present
situation in Canada. Workmen’s associations, which to this
- time had been open, became secret: and yet they spread
through the length and br eadth of England.
My learned ‘friend goes back a hundred years. He. does
well.. He goes. back to the time, gentlemen,. when British ~
“workmen met in-their Trades Unions and kept the books
_of their organizations concealed upon the’ moors of the
North Country’ ‘and of Scotland, and when, between’ the
_ years 1819 and 1823, a most horrible oath-was- exacted from |
” the members of a certain Scotch Union, in order to escape, |
if possible, the application “of that particular Law. How-
”
° . re
a oo °
vy
80 . WINNIPE G STRIKE. TRIALS,
ever, March 1, 1823. tne ‘repeal of these ews was moved by,
Peter Moore. The campaign was reneayed the (4 following
year, resulting in the Law of 1824.
- J might, co. from uné point to another’ and consider ‘
them in detail as leral instruments, but at the mome#¢ I am
*_-_interested_only_as-to the interests that’ brought these Laws
Pa
upon the Statuge Books, and as to-the fight the working
men putsup. inv order ‘te maintain themeely, Ss ang ‘their
Urwanls ations. . . .
“qj .:The ‘history of the fighi for the: ten-houy day in Britain’
makes remarkable reading, [ have not time t ¢° into that.
T just want to show tou sthat whatever position is Held to--
~ ee, gentlemen ot the jury, by a Trades Uyi fiori here or in
’ Brita. is the. result of ceaseless fightingén the part of ©
sindividuals in es ‘these unions; that every so-called
2 e
concession and ‘yrivilege ‘has been wrenched, if T may use
that word, frony the opposition. What we are now concerned .
Pt with is the result. Mr. Queen ‘told xou of the ceaseless fight-
™, ing on the part of those who have gone before for the right
. of working-men to combine. In those fights thaf occurred
: we could, had we time, show you how. the British privilege
ot free speech: and free press was not something that, came
on a silver plytter for the working men‘to” use, and that all
along the ling-they had ‘to keep their eyes Open and watch
: ’ that theSe dearly bought liberties were not filched from
. them. The &ht raged before the passing of ‘the Act of
" *-3 4871, and was\carried on until the framing ofthe Law of.”
1875, a fight that culminated in the Taff. Vale decision and |
i? then we have the passing of The Trades Wnion Act of 1906.
; wasit brought about? By leaving-it to the gentlemen
a he legal frater nity eee down upon the experiences ‘of
rorking men and then ling what they thought was «ood
- for the av orkerS? No; it was by’carnying the fight into the
. ranks,of the ‘opposition; letting these people see something
of 4ie conditions of the working cas Sand by that ceaseless
. vigi nce of the workers jn Britaié, speech, free press |
paid vee assembly as Wwe ead it was mfintemed for others.
And in show)ng thig development I am reminded that .
these were the 4 faxs-of Peterlgo. Same mention was made
- here in this case. bf*Pete 00.f There was a little bit out ‘of
“a poem stuck at the botto some little article somewhere
something | like this: -. cf a .* .
a ad < - a
. ' ot . a «
J wot aa a od '
a a a ° fos P
. 7 ’, . . . . 2 . Pad
coe 6 . 1‘ . ’ ¢
"¢
4
.
RITCHARD’S ADDRESS TOJUBY gh
i ns . = . “of - -
", ’ “Rise like-Nons out of slumber ©.
‘In’ unvanquishable number; °
; . Shake your chains, like morning dew,
noe _ “Whichyin sleep have fallen on you;
° - ¥e are-many; they are few.”
tie I “vemember ‘éorrectly, my learned. friend, Mr. An-
—_—dré oe s,used_a_little bit_of this in his address when he said: 7
“Yer-are many.they are few.’’: I asked my. friend, Mr. Pit-
blade: “Who is the poet?*: and he said:. “I do not know.”
-He-does not say; it seemed to me.that he did not seem to
know whether it was Bobby Burns or Bernard Shaw. But
he- brought it back to Peterloo:: The one thing that has
hurt me possibly | more than anything else in this: case has
~asbeen the display of learned ignorance tha{ I find among men
of the legal profession. Peterloo will be remembered
. cmonged Seago ing people,in ‘Britain for all time,
‘and that is wher at poem came ‘fr om—Shelly: Aye! And
what ‘more did Shelly s say" in that glorious “Mask of An-
archy”? ‘
: . “What is Freedom? Ye can tell” .
a - | That which slavery is too well, :
For its very name has grown
To an echo,of your qin.
". | ° 7 "Tis to work knd have such pay .
life from day to day .
_In your limbg as in a tell {
For the tyrght’s use to dwell.” — F
This is where they get it from. ‘He knew sotnething of
_what was called freedom,.and Mr. Andrews says: Pritchard
\and the other accused go. to the comtented artisan and say -
‘Slave! Slave!.Slave?’ And what did Shelly say? It is too
that they did not haul my volumn of: Shelly. down with -
*
reedom? .
Seditious, gentlemen? Seditious? It may be. Part of
“it thepé, tuck in we'don’t know where jit is from; other™
. poems ze be brolight around. There are things marked
J
ef.
this other gtyff into the court. room. Yes, indeed, what is ©
py the learned gentlemen for" thd. Crown in these Exhibits ..
‘as seditious, which, if I were to take back to the author of.
“Tam o’ Shanter” and the “Cottar’s Saturday Night” would ~ 2
: make the poet plowman turn in his grave. Supposing it was —
shown in one of Phesgpapers that it was from: “Man, Was
‘Made to Mourn.’ ”
‘, . \ oe
a
.
2 -. WINNIPEG STRIKE, TRIALS. |" _
4 < .
; eg vm designed | yon loldlins's slave on!
. ~By ‘nature's Law design’d pre
> Why wasn independent wish, ;
. - Ere planted in-my mind?” ~ " 2 fc,
. * 2: =
- You know where this isefr ‘om, gentlemen.’ I think you-s + _
do. boson cali that seditious? -Butin-thescourse- of so¢iak-
dev &gpment: there comes 4 Lime and conditions, arise. over
s + which man has no control., Then all these privileges that
-. He seems to have won go: “by the board and“as the machine
.« Off W hich I have been speaking to vou is: rendered obsolete
- by its new erforms; as miuchinery-more. and:more performs
if work ‘automatically,-the man of skill Is thrown into the
- yanks’ of the unskilled. ‘L wish I'had time to:take you to a.
".+ moder” bakery tnd show you pow: the bread that- your
mother tsed'to try té make is made today without any rfan
ever handling or fouching any part of the bread; until it ‘is
loaded on the. vig. Thé mixing ard cutting up and weighting
* and kneading ‘all done. by machinery, and what is true of -.
the baker's work is tiue of every industry under the sun»
The’skill of the baker goes into the machine and the skilled
workman becomes just a mere appendage to the machine;
_just as the early. worker was forced from-his simple tools,..-
so, the modern’ *Wwotker is forced frony ‘his skill, so that we ~
of the. working, class, boasting of our skill, looking at the
various “gradations: in our ranks, have said: “yr am a machin-
-#8t; Tam better, than the man that wheels the chips; Iam
“AO journey man car penter, and,. better: than the man that
carries thé-hod,” and .yet, ‘toda. all there ‘is,, gentlemen)
' practically: spéaking, to modern carpentry yisa bag to carry?
_a@buneh of nails in and a claw hammer to put. in the right
- hand, ‘and if you have muscle’ in your arm you are: ‘allright
-asa carpenter, ‘because the sashes are made by a machine
/, , and the’doots come made by “a machine. Your skill is gone;
* you become unskilled labor: you lose this division. Some-
thing occurs which makes. .it necessary for the suspension of ©
.all the rules’ Trades Unions.-have built up in years. These *
are the facts, gentlemen, which force—I am using the word
‘: again—w hich force.workers into the One Big Union: These
. “things; gentlemen, force them into the One Big Union more
e than the rhetorical bombast of’ so-calléd Industrial Union-
cists. The~ gentlemen. of the Crown see great dangér in the
‘One Big Union; They see'a danger, they say, in the Socialist.
“Part ty—a danger to their ‘commercial system. Let. me tell ~
:
7 : . « - . ’ 4 ate + ‘
\
ta
oad
‘PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 83
you, gentlemen, that more deadly to the modern system of
éommerce, more deadly to. your gnodern ‘system of interna-
tional credit than any One Big Union or Socialist Party,
is the fact that last year we crossed thg Atlantic without —
touching water. That is more important+,and if they want -
to know why itis that at present modern ¢ mmercialism
stands before them bankrupt; let them look {nto those Laws
——which- govern-that- modern-conimercialism. he_cutting of
the Panama Canal was more deadly to the continued rule of
‘international capital than any eloquence that any soap-box
orator at any time could ever, use or command. Why?
cause the cutting of the Panama Canal meant the cut
sx down in trade routes, ‘and cutting down in trade route
‘meant a cheapening of éommodities on the market, and the
only thing’ to cheapen commodities upon’ the- market is to
cheapen the labor power whith produced them. And when
ever you cheaper that labor which produces, you. must throw
some of the skilled workers out into the ranks of the -un- |
‘employed. And when you do that you produce a: social prob-
lem; and when you produce a social problem you produce
something that demands serious consideration and that can-
‘not-be turned asifte with a wave of the hand. I was trying
to show you how a man became an anarchist. There is the
history of the movement. He imagined he was doing’ some.
good for himself by. practicing what I refer-to in that"tele- _
gramas “Sabotage,” meaning a slow going style; yet sabot-
age is not something- which. is used only by certain ignorant
workers. Sabotage is the key-stone ofthe entire modern
_ Commercial edifice. Business is sabotage. ‘It is a word you —
do not like—my learned friends do not like that—lI do not -
ulike it. But there it is—Modern business is sabotage—the:,
destroying of one fellow’s property by the operation of an-*
other fellow’ SopT erty; the capturing of, his business in
order to extery one’s own; the beating down of your coni-
petitoy, by Tmdgrselling him on the market; boosting up
your goods assSomething which they—axg’ not. - All these.
vices contributing to the undoing ff our“modern society
- arise from-tHe fact that modern buginess is: only sabotage.
. And time goes along, and the \employing class treat.
with the working class on ‘the matter of the conditions
‘under which they shall work. _ This % not something that -
might be plucked.
bus, qnly after strong
“84 WINNIPEG STRIKE: TRIALS NR
between a group, of workers and their masters. The devel-
opment of the trusts in the realms of business made it neces-
sary that the workers follow that same line of organization.
That is, it took on the trust form, particularly in those.
. occupations’ that are con ed with the so-called vital
trades. IT have tried to sho vi how these transient work-
exs_had_to_maketheir cond s better, right where they
were working or elsesthey Jo\t dut; and if that is'so, then
their organizations myst be su\h |hat ignore crfft divisions,
and recognize the fAct that thé skill of the worker has
passed into the machine and thal the workers were become
unskilled themsely¢s. That is to say that the machine, hav-
‘ingybroken dowf craft divisions in the processes of this
work, the workér must also break down that divisiop in the
form and structure of his organization. I am going to give
you-an instance of what might be. e. :
There came a revolution in the consffuction of build-
ings. The meaning of that word “Revojgtion” is perfectly
clear when.J use it in that sense—a.revolution iq the con- .
struction of building houses. You know there was a time
—and in some cases it is used even now—where athrer.
used to come along and put laths upon the studding.- That/
was his job and the lathing trade was a Skilled trade, and
_ they wrote their own agreements around the work of that
- eraft. But along came”the plasterer and he put on the first
and.second coat of plaster. He also had his craft organiza-.
tion. He had his craft autonomy; he made agreements with. ‘>,
his boss. and negotiated schedules for himself; and there
was no: disagreement between the lather and plasterer
because, they’ both had distinct jobs and.both jobs. were
skilled.. An: inventive genius appears with‘ his machine: he
4
f
makes what is called a plasXer-board. This.is neither lath _ :
nor plaster, but it takes the phice of both. Do you see what ee™
we are up against in the Tradks Union Movement when a’ al
thing like that occurs. In an ational organization,
such as the American Federation of Labor. today, Interna-
tional officers will come down into the district and say to
the lathers; “Say, boys, that plaster-board takes the place
of the laths and if, is your job and you must fight for it.”
Right on the heels of this, gentlemen, will come along the
organizer of the Plasterers’ Union and say: “That is-your
work; you must: fight for ‘that,” and the working men in
the Plasterers’ Union and the working men in the Lathers’
Union fight tooth and nail, each with the other, as to'wwho
: .
a
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . . 85
should do that job when they have a hard ellough fis fight try-
ing to get the best possible wages that the market will
allow. Yet, their method of organization has\not kept pace
* with the change. in the methods of doing things ; has not
kept pace with the changes in the machine. Do'you see what -
that means? So, while the lather and plasterer are euare
relling as to who shall do the job, along comes the man .
with the bag of nails and claw hammer and chisel avid tacks
it right on, and says: do you say;,this thing belongs ~
to the carpenter, “becatise it is put on with hammer and. _
nails.” These are fact&\ and the boss says: “Tat looks
good to me; they are figkting, and I like this.” So, while
the lather and plasterer are fighting, he says to the car:
- penter: “You £0 to it, and get 50c an hour: The other fel-
lows get 65c.”
- Gentlemen, we of the working class were forced to this
position that we did not worry whether the lather or plas-
terer or carpenter does that job, because any man who can
use a hammer and nails can put. the. plaster-board on, and
we do not care whether it is somebody in the plasterers’
craft or somebody in the lathérs’ craft or somebody in the
carpenters’ craft or whether it was put on with a steam
roller—it would not matter so long as we knew that the
men doing the job were being paid what we. consider to
be reasonable wages according to conditions. I’do not know
whether I can refer to that; it is a matter of history. The
Blacksmiths’ International U ion in the United States, with
headquarters over there, triéf to ‘pull all the blacksmiths— .,
THE COURT: I do not think We can go into that. ~
MR. PRITCHARD: I was just coming back to Canada
“to show how the organization works; how it affects Can-
\. ~adian working men.—
: . MR. ANBREWS: I cone is evidenced for ‘this,
otherwise I do not see why we should take time going. into it.
MR. PRITCHARD: My learnéd friend, in his opening
address to the jury, told the jury that they. might not know. ~
about Trades Unionism and: proceeded to tell them— .
THE COURT: Trades: Unionism, I presume, Mr. An #
drews dealt with as a matter of Law.
“MR. PRITCHARD: I would presume 80, but I do not .
kk
hin THE COURT:. Perhaps he was trying to deal with it
-- ag amatter of Law. Several others have tried.
"MER, . PRITCHARD: Still, the fact remains that the ©
_ fellows will have. to come_ou
“\
&6 Ww INNIPEG STRIKE “TRIALS
jury have been told that Canadian’ men or ganized i in | Trades ,
Unions today, for the greater part, are ‘all men with theit .
organization headquarters in the United, Qfates. - A
‘ THE COURT: I presume they wer ld they joined.
American institutions and the Laws that govern American’ a
institutions dé not govern us here’ as, a matter of Law.-
MR. PRITCHARD: W ell; it could readily be assumed;
gentlemen, you could readily conceive that a fight-of that.
description—work that has been-done by the “blacksmith
hithérto, owing to the fact that the machine had further / .
deyeloped, and that instead of the blacksmith doing w vélding,/ :
work, as heretofore, welding was done: by the. acetelyne/ .
welder and upon railroads in the railroad: shops on: the.
North American cotitinent aitd on some ‘railroad, we will”
assume, away down there in Southern California, that be- .
cause the acetelyne w elder had come in to the shop, instead -
of blacksmiths doing. it’in their trade, that carmen. may -
have been put on the job to use the acetelyne welder, and .
the Trades Union organized in this craft jg-in the Ameri-
ean Federation of"Labor today, and under heir constitution,
saying to all the blacksmiths gn all the railrédads:- “You
on- strike, because: (we will.
say) the Santa Fe Railroad is allowing Carmen todo’ work’
that should be done by Blacksmiths.” That is the position’
of the American Federation of Labor today.
“ What is our position? “Since the acetelyne welder has
appeared aid taken the skilled work from the blacksmith,
‘and according to their site they. may be justified: in
"we care not whether the blacksmith or carman does it. If
the machine has broken down the worker’s Skill, the Black-. ve
“smiths and Carmen may both use the acetelyne: machine—, °
the machine has brokeg down the skill of the blacksmith’. -
and will alléw anyone to
use it, and we say to them: “All right, let us talk this thing ..-
over. The macHine has thrown us together. Instead of —
being separate organizations ‘with separate -sets of books’
and officials and business agents with all the duplication of: '
expense and waste of effort; if the machine has _putus toe -
gether, let us be sensible and get together, also, in our.own .-
organizations. Instead: of our being blacksmiths and -pipe-.
fitters and carmen and machinists and boilermakers, in. a
railroad shop where each in turn do the same work, the
machine is making it possible‘for these things to be done by.
any one of these 1 men. Instead of havi ing all these’ divisions
~ - wa
use an acetelyne welder. Carmen an
: PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS. ‘TO. JURY “87
and fights for craft autohomy “ahd: all that added expensé, -
“the machine tells us to cut-out these divi isions and go in for
combination—the weak. against: ‘the strong.” :
, As ‘long as-there remdins a vestige of craft skill fromi
s ‘which condition-any-“position in the struggle for wages is *
+t“ derive d;~a—craf t—or ‘ganization—wwill_ fill a_function!It.does _-_: _-
- not matter how many individuals you’ may have talking
“about: Industrial -Unionism ; (whether it be myself: or “any :
‘. one else) as long as there is-the division that I méntioned,
sthé workers will take adv: antage’ to that extent and all our
‘sooth saying will make no difference. Still, as I pointed out,
- if that machine displacing. manual ‘skill is a factor,in pro- -
. duction then-this position occurs. You’ Thay ‘have noticed in ~
- the newspapers—I do not mean in the news columns.of the
neavspapers (it seems to be a very dangerous proceeding.
“quoting from new spapers “just” now’) but in-the-advertise-:
“ments as well-as editérials—y ou. will.notice where -certain -
‘firms will promise to’ put.you down’ a house complete in
_ every detailtall ready for you to put up, packed/up ina box; :, 7 .
. and they will-send/it on a flatear and all you: have to dois to .- ~
open: it out, like a big umbrella, and you. have it finished, .-
‘ up-to- ‘date—a. barn or: ~ stable—the’ product of: the. machine; — an
“ sthe skill-of the worker thas been,shut out by the machine.
". And the machine ‘sings-a song to: the worker -that can be
understood . only by. the worker... I did not.’ compliment 1 Mr.’
Andrews, for many -of-the things that he has said; but I:
-believe-he and.I- could. talk things over. ‘quite, a bit. ‘But Lov:
| know.his position.
‘Gentlemen, I found myself, after ‘the Law: threw. its .
+. lasso around me, in.an atmosphere ‘of. prejudice. I: found. .
myself in ‘a.most. pectiliar ‘position. As I have come to see.
‘the unfolding of the case, I can- ‘easily understand the preju- -
dice ‘of. the: learned ‘counsél- from the Citizens’ Committee.
~ Every man, gentlemen, is more:or léss a creature of his. én-- oe
vironment. I might be as funny looking to you on’a farm
as possibly one.of you might be in some kind of industry ; a
>I do not doubt it. I-know I ‘would. The ‘product: of a certain’
. habit of thought, a ‘certain environment, the prejudice that
‘IT have met springs. from that environment. Ihave felt it
_all around the place. Gentlemen, do,you know that-I would . ©
‘ not. be mad, I would not feel it keenly even if His Lordship.
were to ‘show prejudice to.me;.not at all. I could readily *-.
_ expect it; I could readily expect it.-
“THE couRT: Why. do’ you anticipate that, Pritchard. . 2 7
4 ot a4 nr >
on
cA
WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, 1 am trying to show the
difference in the habit of thought of the working man.
' THE COURT: I have not exhibited any prejudice to
you.
7 ae
‘dice 1 might have against you.
show the difference im the habit-of thought-c£ the-working
man and of members of the legal profession. You will re- |
member, My Lord, that you asked me why I did not take
counsel, and f told you, My Lord, that under any other cir-
cumstances I would have taken the best counsel that I could
—had it been any other chafre. My Lord, I would havé run
around the City of Winnipa@fs aad found my learned friend
Mr. Andrews Goud laughtef). I think he would héve done
better for me. But I menfioned at the time, that I con-
7
: { . . : :
‘sidered the legal mind as aif indvor mind. -I am not blaming
the legal profession—to me it is an honorable profession; in
fact I ifaseriously considering taking it up myself (laugh-
ver). Tera young yet: but it was given seriously and sin-,
cerely when 1 xtated that I thought the legal mind was an
indoor mind. By that ] meant ft did not and could not oblit-
erate the effects of its environment: it could not have any
knowledge of the mechanism of the industrial world!
MR. PRITCHARD: No, My Lord; but I am trying to.
THE COURT: What has that got to do with any preju- - -
OIR.-PRITCHARD: Merely this; I might have preju-
dice—I know there is prejudice from the legal profession
and: I know every distinguished judgé“on the Bench has
been raised from that profession, and I know a man cannot
bé anything else than his, habits of thought may make him.
I may try, My Lord, to dccept your point of view; I may
best to take my paint of view—I meant no disrespect to you,
My. Lord, when I made that remark.
“+take your my pa und experience, and you may do your
. -~
This, gentlemen of the jury, is only showing you I must.
fight this position /the best I know how. I offered to put up
my own: defense. IT might have been assisted by a lawyer
o far as the Law goes, and I do not want_to boast nor act
gotistically. I cannot: think of any lawyer who could feel
_ the experiences of the werker and tell them, too; and that
is why 1 appear undefeniged. It may be-a mistake; it may
prove to be a mistake. Gentlemen: of the jury, -if it is, I
will have erred grievously; and grievously I suppose I will,
answer it. But one of my best friends, himself a lawyer
(I have friends that are lawyers, gentlemen of the jury, just
4
vl
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . 89
a . s :
as I have friends that are politicians; that does not mean
to say I am going to withhold criticism from the politician
now and again) and we were talking one day about certain
things and I happened to be in a room looking at a radiator.
The legal man, looking at the product of the “machine, saide .
“Is not that wonderful, that these sections of the radiator
‘could all be turned out, faced, and With straight bearing.
made so that steam—or—-hot-water—can_hbe forced through
\
t-
there and there shoifld be no leaks?” To the legal mind
-this was something that came down out éf the Arabian
Nights; this was the prodact of the country of Alice in
Wonderland. To the machinist, to the workers, there was
nothing wonderful about it, because he makes thousands of’
such things every day through the machine. That is the
difference’ “that I wanted to impress vou with between: the
mind of the worker and the mind that I call an indoor mind.
Gentlemen, this brings me to the Western Calgary Con-
vention. The Crown tuke this up from Quebec. I was not
at Quebec, at least the Crown did nat- -say so. Gentlemen,
from evideyxce given by Percy, the Crown sought to show
. that there’ was something sinister, something ° ‘seditious, in
the fact that resolutions put to the Congress asking for
this breaking down of craft divisions and, of the organiza- + -
tion upon industrial lines, that ‘this came.from machinist
organizations, and the learned counsel for the Crown stated
that this is significant. Russell and Johns were both mem-
~
bers of the machinists’ organization. Let me tell you, in ~
‘ my humble opinion, these resolutions came from the machin-
. ists, in spite of, and not because of Russell and Johns.
‘Possibly the machinist is-the one man in the workshop,to-.
’ day who-has felt that skill being taken from him by an ever
developing and extending use of machinery, ‘consequently
‘he wants a closer affiliation w ith his fellow-workers. He does
not want jealousies potinded back and forth with the boiler-
maker, he wants to join the bdilermaker in the fight to’
maintain a standard of living to which they have been accus-
tomed.
Quite a story was unfolded in the calling of the West-
-ern Calgary Convention. Then the ev idence of Percy and
‘from the statements made trom time to time by the counsel
for the’Crown—these things appear clearly to you, gentle-
‘men. First—dissatisfaction by the Western members’ with
the machine politics of Congress. Of course, in P.M. Dr apex
as Secretary of the Canadian Trades Congress—why was it
- sy
oT
90 . WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
nointed out ?—Why did they not come along and say that he
had held that jol for some 15 years, and had been away —
from his trude and Inst touch’ with the workers; or that he
held a jab under the Government, which may actually, if -
not nominaHy, have been tHat of King's Printer. Dissatis-
faction in ihe machine politics of Congress! To constantly
trold
MR. ANDREWS: As Draper is not here to defend
himself, he should not be criticised. I do not know whether
heis holding a Government job or held a Government job
for 15 vears. Ido not know about the gentleman there, is
no evidence about this. CY
_ THE COURT: We ought not to attack a man 1 who is-.
not a party to these proceedings. ° -
MR. PRITCHARD: It was not an attack. It was stat
in this court—it was given that P. M. Draper was Secretary. ;
of the Trades Congress; it was put in the Exhibits by-the
- Crown. ° ria
MR. ANDREW Sy -Ther thé décused went on to say, he
_.?had Ween there 15 years, and was practically a Gov ernment
official. There is no evidence of that. *
THE COURT: If that is all the attack—
=. MR. ANDREWS: There is no evidence.
“MR. PRITCHARD: I ask the-——
THE COURT: He may be a fool.to be a Gov ernment
official, but there is no reason he should be attacked for it.
MR. ANDREWS: There is no evidence, and he is lead-
ing up to something.
MR. -PRITCHARD: J, think, - with all due respect to
Your Lordship, if he is a fool'for being’ a Government official,
I may disagree with him for being that. He may be any- .,
thing in the world for being that, and be entitled to it—
THE COGLRT: Some people. seem to know other peo-
ple’s business'better than they do their own.
— MR. ‘ANDREWS: The. accused is only leading up to
a
_t some argument, based on this; there is no evidence of it.
THE COURT: ‘He has not made ‘the attack—I would
. rather not be told—
MR. PRITCHARD (to the Registrar ef the Court):
Can you look for the article in the Bulletin: “The prole-
tarian dictatorship has been proclaimed in“ Canada—the
head line only was read by Crown Counsel. Iam doing my
best among 1,000 Exhibits.
THE_ COURT: Ww hat do youw ant to say about Draper? ?
t °
go?
a PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 91
MR. PRITCHARD: I. could not say all that I Weegee
‘like to say about Draper (laughter).
THE COURT: If you feel that way about him you had”
better leave him alone..
MR. PRITCHARD: I think I can ‘show my point. Yes;
this article, My Lord, put in by the Crown states: “Circular
letter sent out ander the-signature-of/ Fom-Moore.and P. M. a
¥ Draper, President: and Secretary-Treasurer, respectively, of
‘ the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada.”
4 THE COURT: You don't want to £0 and knock hell ou
- of the Labor Party, do you?
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, working men may use lan- ,
../> guage at times that is not very choice, but I think they
2 Share that distinction with other members of society al-
though they may not be so particular as to where they say’. .
it.
THE COURT I am not finding fault Ww ith that lan-
guage; I think one word spoke volumes. ~
MR. PRITCHARD: Yes; I think that Russell was just
as sincere then as I found him t8 be at other times when he
said he was knoéking hell out of the Labor Party; I do not
. find anything here ‘about him.being King’s Printer, so I
- may come to that article later ON SWI
THE COURT: Mr. Pritchard, weave not much to do ©
with Draper, I do not think.
- MR. PRITCHARD: I want to proceed, My Lord, if I ;
_ could manage to f/get past’ some of these irrelevant inter- ~
zs ruptions. But it is pointed our, gentlemen— .
a ; THe COURFP: Queen rather liked that to get a littlé
ate’ PRITC D: There are so many “spectators here,
‘T have not room to sit down (referring to the cr owded state
of the court room). a
- MR. QUEEN: I used to sit down on the table and listen. .
._THE COURT: Orders chair to be placed for Mr. Pritch- >.
ard’s convenience. ,
MR. PRITCHARD (turning to Mr. Andr ews) : You
can now’ interrupt me as ofteri as you like.
MR. ANDREWS: I will only interrupt when some- ..”
thing is being said-that-ought not to be said. I lo not think ,
I have interrupted improperly.
MR- ‘PRITCHARD: I am trying't to keep as wellasI can _
- within bounds.
eo Od
" ‘Lord. ;
‘>. MR. PRITCHARD: I think so, too, My. Lord, and I -
92 - WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS» .
" MR. ANDREWS: I think. he has been very* -good, ‘My
will only cold, or. scald, Mr. Andrews whenever I consider
Queen ‘and Mr. Trueman—why should I go over that argu-
- it necessary. This has been pointed out—the ballot—by Mr. . ;
Yup
~-ment? You-have it, gentiemen. T could do it if Thad to, but-
there ‘is no'use going over an argument that has once been
presented to you. Disparity in the representations between.
East and West because of holding this Congress ‘down in
‘the East—-I think Winnipeg is about the third largest city
‘in the Dominion—I do not know when the Congress was.
held in Winnipeg last—-there is no evidence to show us; I
cannot tell you. The Congress is always flooded with In-
“ternational officers who sit there by virtue of their office
that I have told vou about. And in addition to the develop-
‘
ment of the machine which wasepreaking’ down these craft °
divisions there has been growing, particularly in Western.
Canada, in the ranks of organized labor, a resentment.
against.the red tape andthe cast ir oF ‘formula of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labo’. sg
I want to digress here. My learned friend drags the
IW. W. constitution in from somewhere, some hole or...
corner, some place, and says: “Gentlemen, look at that.
Look at the 0. B. U. xonstitution; you have to take a mic-
roscope to find the difference.” You don’t gentlemen; you
don’t. The O. B. U. constitution states its position simply .
as this Exhibit shows (quotes from constitution). And the’:
take the microscope and look at the O. B.U. Preamble as
against the American Federation of- Labor or the Interha-
tional Association of Machinists, yet, to all intents and
purposes the working of these preambles are identical.
MR. ANDREWS: .Now, why should the accused say —
that; he hagvalready-said there is no evidence, but ‘he tells
us they are identical. There is no evidence of it.
THE COURT: What was it you said?
MIR. ANDREWS: The constitution of the Internation-
als is not in and he tells the jury that the constitution of -
the International Order of Machinists and the O. B. U. are
just the same.
_ difference is apparent to any who will read, but the Inter- -
‘national Association of Machinists have been mentioned
- here, the American Federation, of Labor has been mentioned
here; their preambles | are not in as evidence, so you cannot |
~ . . - . .
" PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . 7 93
MR. PRITCHARD: No;I stated that they dia. not need *
to take the microscope to see where there was.any differ-
ence between them, My Lord, and if you will permit me, I
want to do this for the. reason that the American’ Feder-
ation: of Labor has been introduced here, the International
Association of Machinists has been introduced and the reso-_ -
-Jutions passed
THE ‘COURT: The. constitution and. the matter you
are speaking of, I do not recollect being introduced. .
, MR. PRITCHARD: But, My Lord, here is the position.
If my colleague, Mr. Jones, is to be prejudiced merely by the
inference that he has’ left the International Association of
Machinists and gone into what is known as the One Big
Union, would it not have been an act of grace on the part
the Crown to have put in the preamble of the Interna- -
tional Association of Machinists? . _@
THE COURT: No; I would not have done it. if ‘I were -
counsel for the Crown, for the simple reason the Federa-
_ tion of Machinists has ‘nothing to do with the Laws of the
country. - .
-MR. PRITCHARD: I grant that and admit. that. /
-. “THE COURT: You had every privilege to put it in if
. you. wished to. put it in. a
MR. PRITCHARD :'I have stated my reasons for not
putting it in.
THE COURT: You have taken your course and it is
not in,-and I think the sooner we find .one thing.exists in
:.one Way, as soon as we understand that the better we will
_ get along.
MR. PRITCHARD: Well, I do not hold that view, My
. Lord.
THE COURT: No; may be not. “The court is. bound by -
its rules. The jury will look atthe situation that is here
and say what they have to say ‘about it themselves.
-MR. ANDREWS: My Lord, ‘I object that the accused
-- tell to the jury what is the contents of the evidence he has
elected not to put in evidence of. -
THE COURT: I will have to tell the jury there is no
evidence to confirm thé: constitution.
‘MR. PRITCHARD: It is almost an anomalous position
_ tome: I know:well enough, this country cannot be bound by
the Laws of a foreign organization. Nevertheless, we have
; in. this. country taken into the Government of this country,
94°. _ - WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS —
.
‘a man who boasts of his connection with that same ‘foreign -:
organization—the American Federation of Labor.
THE COURT: Iam not bound by what the Gov ernment
does, but what is on the Statutes, and the jury are not bound
by them.
MR. PRITCHARD: I will not_proceed_w: ith-that.
<
‘into this court in the closing days of the Russel trial .
THE COURT: Yes; but he did not attempt to tell me
‘what to do. -He has the right of .every citizen to come into .
THE COURT: If the members of the Government were
to come.into the court and attempé to tell us what the Law
was, I would probably send them to jail. .
MR. PRITCHARD: A member of the Cabinet did come
court.
MR. PRITCHARD: I understand that, My Lord.
» THE COURT: The jury is not bound by any member
of the Cabinet, and under our constitution, as it is, nobody
-but myself can tell the jury what to do.
MR. ANDREWS: I also object to the ‘accused saying '
.. the Minister of Labor boasts of being a member of the
° American Federation—there is no ey idence, ‘of that kind
here, and I think the accused may as well know now. He |
has not been particularly off ending up to. date, but he thinks
he may tell the jury aby thing that is not before the court,
stating facts before the jury we cannot meet—that the
Machin
“not deny it.
‘THE COURT: There is no ev idence of that. I will have
“to tell the jury there is no evidence that Gideon Robertson
is a member of that institution. -
. MR. PRITCHARD: I‘did not say that; my learned |
friend géts up to say something; I did not say the Minister
of Labor—I said a member of the Government, and he
came along and made it specific—
THE COURT: I hope you are not referring: to the Min-
ister of Justice.
MR. ANDREWS: This may be very funny and suit the
crowd at the rear, but every one knows when the reference
is made to a member of the Government being a member
ists’ preamble is. the same as the O. B. U.—we can-
‘of the Federation of Labor, ‘he 1 means the Minister of Labor. | : 7
It is not funny—it is quite improper.
MR. PRITCHARD: It is not funny at all. I hay e ‘known
‘a man‘rise from the workshop bench ‘and go into the legal |
at) - .
any,
L- | PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS;10" TORY " = - gs
profession. I think there are men of that description who.
have left their tools and gone into the legal profession.
' THE COURT: What has that to do with it.
MR. PRITCHARD: They might become “Minister of
‘Justice and then boast of the American Federation of Labor
(aughter).. °
. THE COURT: T know one labor man who rose to be a
lawyer, and he was quite worthy of filling any position that
the country could give him. I say nothing about myself. I
. worked pretty hard before I became a lawyer.
5 MR. PRITCHARD: I appreciate the position, My Lord.
You and I may differ as to whether I could rise——_ :
THE COURT: I do not see how that man can be any
better than he is ~ —
‘MR. PRITCHARD: Gentlemen of the jury, I do not
know— —
THE COURT: That has not much to do with these
‘things, Mr. Pritchard.
MR. PRITCHARD: I just said:” Gentlemen of the |
a ‘jury, I do not know” — — ;
cd THE COURT: Well, if you do not know, that has not
much to do with the other.
MR. PRITCHARD: But, My Lord, I do not know what ~
‘I do not know; IT had not: time to tell what I did not know
(laughter).
THE COURT: I thought it had something to do with
_this case. Now. let us get on.
- -* ‘MR. PRITCHARD: This is not funny, gentlemen of
the jury. There may be here and there lighter spots in this
, thing, and there may be occasions when we can afford to
laugh. I can laugh myself,-and I can appreciate possibly a
pretty turn of wit, but I recognize ‘my position, and while-.
I may be transgressing a little, I do not want to do it: It
is not —— ~
‘THE COURT:. You can proceed and .pass on there,
Pritchard, if you — —
MR. PRITCHARD: Will my learned friend; ‘when my
learned friend stands upon the floor of the court — —
THE COURT: If you transgress from here, I will not
take it in the easy way. .
, MR. PRITCHARD: He says it may be funny; it may ~-
’ not be funny. I have just as much right to say it may not ~
be funny as he has to say it may be funny. The develop-
ments of that machine, gentlemen, T have illustrated to you,
al -
4
.
‘ 96 - WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS" co?
-in this country; does it take place in other countries? Does _
it? I will leave it to your-judgment whether there have been -
changes in the industrial world, we-will say in England, ‘and .
_ if so, I will leave it to your judgment as to whether or not:
in England the workers too, have come together.along the
lines I have suggested. I may not be permitted to deal with.
_ that as it affects the older country; there is evidence some--
where-here-in the Crown’s Exhibits as to the Triple Alli--
ance. of all railroad workers and miners and transport work-
ers. Railroad workers are one organization—all in one or-
% ganization. I think that I am within my rights if I tell you
that on the railroads in England, there dare locomotive. fire-
men and: engine ‘men, as they are called—drivers; there are ©
conductors—brakesmen or guards; there are the men to
mend the tracks known as “plate-layers ; there are signal
men and men who sell the tickets in the offices and a whole’ -
host of different workers on the railroads, and there is an
organization known as the Railroad Men’s Union of England ~ .
—one organization. There is evidence in there that the
* railroad-men and miners and. transport men’s unions again .
- come together in what is known in the Labor World as the -
. Triple Alliance. J-am- going to ask you to use your judg-
’ ment as to whether, ‘the workers in the old country have not
followed the logic ofthat machine.
We come to a verbatim report of the ‘Western Labor:
Conference. You may have seen.it. If you go through it
you will be struck with one thing—that.is its faulty con-
struction, its poor grammar and it can lead,only to one con-
clusion—that it was a -poorly taken report, faulty in many. .-°
nwn-nFeSpects. Senseless expressions appear here and there—.
possibly one of the worst reports-of a Labor Convention.
The omission of one word can materially affect the sense
. of a whole sentence—alter the whole méaning of the whole
text, and in that verbatim report you will find something
like this: “Delegate Kavanagh——‘Any time the workers
imagine they can emancipate themselves merely through,
the gas houses of this or any country, they have another
think coming.’ ”—quite different to what he said. It is not
.. quite clear, and even if, I knew I could not tell you.
. ‘As I developed the argument this morning about the
- use of the ballot, and as the Crown have claimed that Kavan-
agh is a member of the Socialist Party of Canada, then
what’ he said on that occasion might be of some value in the
argument presented this morning that the real fight comes
< woof . . 7
, ‘ :
ath
are composed of all shades of po
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY ~ '. 97
before the elections, and that can be taken for what ‘it is
worth from the man whom the Crown says was my col-
league: In a Labor organization, in a Labor Convention of .-
Trades Unionists, which, as I explain ned to you this morning,
bound together with a common object of selling their energy
for the highest possible price, according to conditions—they :
say that we repudiated, in that Convention, political action, -
and, yet, these very men in that Convention, a Convention
which was for the purpose of dealing with economical ques-.
tions; of bread and° butter and conditions ‘of work on the
. job, that when the question of political action, parliamen-
‘tary action came up in that Convention, this same Kavan-
agh said: “Not at this -Convention—not within the- scope
of this Conference—certainly not either going in favor’ of
or against—it is none of our business and consequently we
lay this question on-the table—it is our duty at this mom- |
ent.” Yet that same man (you can see his trend of thought .
even where the questions were industrial questions and an
industrial Convention) when the question to be dealt with
was parliamentary action—he said the real fight goes on in
the country. before the elections.. Why before the. elections?
‘Gentlemen, dealing With that report in its faulty character
brings us to the reports of persons’ whg went out to meet-
ings, newspaper men who had to get a story for their paper
for a living. Other men who also evidently had to get a
story for a living, and if the’story was not there, seemed to
be perfectly capable of creating one. You will remember
that my learned colleague, Mr. Queen, quoted an utterance
of Judge Macdonald—-you remember its import. You re-
member how the thing works in the newspaper office; ‘
dragged just a little bit out that they have in the news-
paper—-what they call color. One of these reporters admit-
ted that the Tory newspaper and Liberal newspapers print
entirely different stories of the same meeting, while Mr.
Brindly confessed that the story was afterwards made to fit.
the amount of space, and the city editor, when giving these’
men assignments, would say to them, get a stick on that—
make it a stick or two sticks (a term used In newspaper
offices). The stick is what the compositor uses to make up
his lines on. Condense it. And the other terms that-they _
brought out as to room, “plenty” or “‘tight,’”’ and they have
to write the story according to the space—“plenty” or
“tight”; yet they came back, refreshed their memory from
cal opinion_that_are—_
oo. a or ; te ooG . . .
/ 7 +98 , : WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS :
* these newspaper Feports. and- gave their evidence. ‘T ‘want
: you to notice this;too, that if these other reports that were.
<a - * taken into offices and built up—they. went back and wrote ~
some. of them the next day—I do not know whether I am_ .-
trespassing or -not, but I ‘remember. one day’a little-bit_ of se
an argument here concerning the result of the activities of
‘the gentlemen on the: other side of the lamp there (referring
. to the court reportey) His Lordship said something. about
~ not hanging a. dog on.a-reporter’s notes. And again T find |
' myself in perfect agreement with His Lordship.
- That is the. position you’ take, gentlemen; -then -what-
an we do about it? Where we find counsel for the Crown
trying to hang a number of us, not on the reporter’s notes
that may be made at the time, but on reporter’s notes that -
.-* he has slept on,.and then writes after he gets. up in the’
: morning. Gentlemen,. supposimg. ore of these ‘individuals
had gone to a meeting and had’gathered what he considered — -:
necessary, and as he went to.bed that night he hadanight- ,
~. mare and got up in the morning and wrote his notes, how .
Za much of the meeting and how mich of the night-mare would \
; ~he get into the story. Are we to be hung on these kinds of be
notes? And to develop that point a little. further, as.it con-- - = .
cerns me. I aim not going to bother you with going into what.
- the witnesses said that I have said at meetings; you can .
judge that for yourselves. One thing I notice is that the . |
North West Mounted Policeman from Calgary,.by the name- = « *
of Waugh—just this thing that: struck me—you will re-
member they brought in evidence. about meetings -in thé
Pantages Theatre in Calgary, in June, a meeting in St.
‘George’s'Island Park. Put it all together. What does itall
--amount to; and this évidence they gaye of what I.said. = |
_ This is a thing that struck me, that the witness said [had -
’ stated that all we desired was British Justice and. we were . :
determined to get it, and yet, under cross-examination, he ._ |
- had to ‘bark back that he thought these men, meaning us, - | - |
had had enough of British Justice. Listen to that! And |
what would you think of the testimony of thé man that has ©
displayed’ open hositility to that extent? Supposing, gentle- \
men, that I had said upon a platform, and had told the :
crowd the same way, that I may be telling you now, that we.
desire British Justice and we were determined to get it;' |
do you see anything seditious in that? Do you? And when ~
he comes: to a matter of creating trouble in a community I:
want to know if the activities and’ utterances of-men in
.
ye "PRITCHARD'S. ADDRESS TO JURY - "99
er the utterances, like the man in the box who said: “I
think these men have had enough of British Justice,” I want
. to know whether you think—whether the utterances, the
“actions of such_men_as these are things _that_would_cause___
“trouble. in a community. ‘I: want you to use your judgment.
_ that connection are the things that cause e trouble, 0 or r wheth: —
. accordingly, - on the statement of these simple facts. One © -
meeting in Winnipeg—that is all, gentlemen. Just’a few
sentences. Three minutes from.a two-hour address; ‘all,
’ that -was necessary and all that was considered objection-
able—15 minutes from an hour—a three-minutes address,
perhaps not that, much—considered objectidnable’ and in
_that 15 minutes was collected this—that Ivens said that we -
wanted British Justice ard were determined to get it.
« “These-little pieces have. ‘been collected from these speeches,
gentlemen, in Calgary, in Winnipeg—not one tittle of evi-.
dence on any. speech that I have made at any. other time, or
in any other place has been brought here. The Crown reads . .
- from certain documents: and points to the picture of the .
’ accused Pritchard going up and down Vancouver Island—
. I am not referring to the fact that somebody may have’
. said. in.some letter that I was over-in Vancouver. Island
during the week-end—gentlemen, am I transgressing if I -
tell you-that I came to this country some time or other, and
« ° the Crown does. not contend that I came to Winnipeg until .
| -after the 10th of June and the Crown has séught to show
by the evidence of men who entered my house that I lived
in Vancouver. There is evidence to show, out of some of —
“these Exhibits that one fellow writing-to another, referring |
to the speakers said they are all ‘working for capitalistic
bosses.’ I had a job somewhere. And the Crown. has been
able to show that away back in ‘{917 I was in Vancouver,
_ and that before that, in 1916, I was in Vancouver. They
" miay have gone further back; I.don’t know that they did.-
This is certain, gentlemen, if they. sought to show I spoke in -
ping from the trough of what I said in Calgary—just a lit-
" ‘Vancouver Island, they bring evidence—just.a little drip- ©
tle. carving out of what-I said on the sameé platform as”~
Woodsworth, Ivens—has it come to pass in Canada, gentle- ‘
men, that if you occupy the same platform as another man,
you of necessity endorse all that he says? Has it? Is that
so? ‘The Crown ttied to make something out of.thé fact
that I could be found with Ivens, or that Ivens could be
found with me. I do not know: which. was ‘the malefactor
o
al
Ww
wr
100 a PRITCHARD’S "ADDRESS TO sory.
in the. play. But one .of us’ was a bad man for associating
_with the other fellow. I am prepared, gentlemen, in this.
“ ease-to be Barrabas. :But this-is a significant point. These
little things can be brought into this -court’ and; Victoria.
"Park, Winnipeg,. Mewata Park at Calgary, St. : “George’s
Island Park, Calgary; Pantages- Theatre, Calgary: Calgary -
_ |_| seemed, ~as-we-looked- -at—this-evidence, to be the centre of.
the universe so far as this police spy system was concerned.
- Extracts from five different speeches - in Calgary. and two-
or three in Winnipeg, yet living in Vancouver’for a number ©
of years the Crown gloats over the fact that this fellow, |
-Pritchard, is a’ “top-notcher.” -Not one’ scrap st evidence” .
from any one of the many speeches I might have made.in :
- -the town in Which’ I lived. Why, gentlemen? -Is it, gentle-
i
men, because a prophet hath no honor in his own: country,
- OF: do the gentlemen representing the Crown want to tell
me that their resources were so meagre that they could not
have got a story about me in the place where Iam known ..
and where I have my home, members of Trades Unions
fighting alongside. 1 me, addressing them and: from time ‘to
time listening to them, and not one scrap of that-is brought
into this court. Just something I said in Calgary, something
* I said in Winnipeg; the whole | business appears.to me té.be.-_.
-. the most delightful concoction that was ever conjured’ forth
in the legal. mind at any-time. And suppose, gentlemen, that
' in addit#@h to the development of the machine I, have shown .-
you,: the workers were confronted with other conditions ;
_ supposing that Laws.on the Statute Book respecting health
. and sanitation, the time of payment of wages, etc., etc.,-set’
down, in the Provincial Laws, are just a picture book; sup-
pose the conditions in the places in which you work are not
at all like what they should be if the Laws on the Statute
Books were enforced. Suppose, gentlemen, that there be a
Law which tells the employer in the camp that he must put . _
“on the water supply in such and such fashion; that he can
only build. bunks ‘in the bunk house of such and such a char-
-acter; that they must not be tier bunks, one bunk above
another; that two men shall not sleep together in what:
lumber-jacks call double-barrelled bunks; that they shall
not be built so that you crawl\in. head first or foot- first—
what lumber-jacks call muzzle-loading ; supposing it says
that reports shall be turned in respecting these bunk houses,
and despite the Law, suppose this: these mattresses are
made of a decomposed substance that might at one time —
"PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO ‘JURY =" 101
~~
. have ‘been hay, and: suppose all these things are done, ’ ‘and’
put upon the Statute Book, what are you going to do about |
it as workers? -Would:you- organize as best’ you could and
‘force your demands right there upon these, chaps where-you "
_ work, and see if you could’ not; “by virtue of your indus-
_ trial ’strength, make ‘such . demands as such: workers may -. ;
.at any time consider necessary to -their maintenance and .
well being?” Would you-not, gentlemen of the jury, con-
sider it good policy on the ‘part of these workers -if they
-. could. by their efforts build up an organization which -would
save themselves to’ some extent? . There is a Health Act i in.
British Columbia; it has been-there’a long ‘time, but it is |
7 a dead letter; “please: observe it,” we say to. the masters, oo
“or we refuse to work -together:”. ” Is that seditious con-
spiracy? Or supposing: in the camps in this work, gentle-
men, that right i in the place where you-had to sleep’ ‘the pigs -
‘are running in and: out. And suppose. ‘there the case-of a
man taken to hospital with’ ptomaine poisoning because of -
. the alleged condition ofthe cook house there, and, suppose
_ out of your wages you.had to pay $2.00 a month towards a
-hospital, whether you went there or not, if you banded to-. .
gether with your fellows for the. ‘purpose of seeing the boss
got in decent crockery so you would not have to go to.the
‘hospital, would that be seditious? And if you-made one big
-organization of the lumber-jacks of British Columbia, work-
ing under such conditions—nobody will argue if these labor
. Laws mean ‘anything, that they were put there except for
the purpoge of. being” observed (and they never have been - |
observed until you made your. organization) what would you
think of that, gentlemen? And suppose you had another -'-
Law for a minimum wage for women and a Minimum L
. that says that a woman -worker over the age of 18 shall not
receive less than so and so—so much per week. And sup-' |
posirig you are faced with that contingency and that, the -—
Minimum Wage Law goes into effect and the boss, by virtue
of that Law is compelled to come through with that ‘mini-.
mum -wage, and ‘then suppose, gentlemen, that just as soon
as that Law has “been put through that you had fought for -
for months and months and months; suppose after all that,
gentlemen, that the boss turns around and says, yes, women
over 18 years of age must go, the whole lot,of them; and he
gets girls of the age of 1734, years and others of lesser ages; -
then, how are you going to make him respect that Law.if
‘you cannot ‘build an organization up industrially which will
-deal with. your boss dnd make him obey that Law. Gentle.
‘men, that little-picture is ‘only a little’ corner of the.entire |
-
102 00—~C*~C PRITCHARD'S, ADDRESS To TORY. Lee
‘ scope of the workers’ struggles. That is what the ‘worker
has from day to day and week to week with the 7
industry. I want -to tell you that there is no moye peaceful
sters of - - 7°
or Law abiding section of- the community under the sun — ~
~—than the industrial worker. At the same time there. is no
man or set of men who have been more goade by their”
conditions thal
' You max carry: the supposition further, and be
. to
' _read-some of\the things that occurred in. the Calgary Con- |.
vention and: You can come withyme on the suppositious
journey to the Parliament offices im ‘B. C. Suppose, gentle-. -
men of the jury, that there-is a Law, and this Law may be
’ called the Coal Mines’ Regulations ‘Act, and one of the clauses
in this Law runs like this: That ever 'so often the miners
. shall from amongst them nominate-a committee called an
Inspection Committee, and the duties of such committee -
shall ‘be to inspect all the. workings of the mines and that
they shall report gas wherever they find it to the Inspector
of. Mines, and to the-employer, and that the Law further _
states when gas has been discovered by such committee that
the employer must then and there take steps to see that
the mine is properly ‘ventilated. You can: suppose -that,
gentlemen. And suppose you and I,.and we will say the
gentlemen there over in the corner (pointing to one-of the .
- jJurymen)—three of us are elected’ by the votes of-our fel-
‘low-workers, to act on that committee, to discover gas, ‘and
report ‘gas if it is there, what would you do‘under the cir-
cumstances ; would you do your duty and report? Because
the Law says if you find gas and do not report it you are ©
subject to: ‘penalties, But suppose, doing your duty accord-
ing'to the Law in the. interests | of yourselves, you find gas
and report, the Law Says you shall report it if you find
_it, and if you find it and do not report it there-are penalties,
let us suppose you find it and report ‘it, and whatever the | .
Law says the boss says: “You get out of this right.now,”
what are you going to do about that; and if I were to tell
you that in the self same supposition that the Coal Mining
Regulations Act had never been lived up to and that it had
‘been on the Statute’ Book for years and years and. years,
and not until the organization could be formed of laundry
workers could the masters be made to ‘observe the real let-
. 14
. PRITCHARD’ $ ADDRESS, TO JURY; #108
ter and. the spirit. of the “Minimum Wage Laws: and” we
"wre forced to the same position respecting coat mines.
Gentlemen, take the case of: seditious conspiracy, and ~
’ 2 they put penaltiés: on it. You know I know the pénalties.- -
- But they. write Laws-in our interests and, they say, after
this the miners of British” Columbia or Manitoba of wher-———
ever elseit-may be in camps or upon any: work at all, not. : :
-then confined to a- municipality, that every~ employer .of '.
- labor shall pay wages to his employees twice a month and --
.. he does not_do so, and they: go to Law—the Law is ‘clear
' - enough. -It wa intended, I think, that the employer should .
pay wages twice a month, but he does not:do it. You need .”
" your money; may ‘be’ ‘when working in the wilds of British
.. Columbia, a man’s family is-down in Vancouver. He needs ,
that money to go home, and to get the money-all he can-do
_is to go to the expense of hiring a lawyer and taking his -
_ employer into court and the employer may. be fined $25.00.
’ Geneltmen, here i is. a proposition that we are up. against all.
the time. a
. MR..ANDREWS: ‘My Lord, the accused lias drawn a
picture “of supposition. Now ‘he ‘starts and says these are
the conditions which we are up against. There is not a tittle ~
’ ‘of evidence of these things.- If he considered them material
. to his casé he could have offered evidence and we could have
rebutted it if-we wanted to. But for the last fifteen minutes
he, has, been’ drawing suppositious | cases and we are up’
against ‘the conditions—we, he says: -" a
. HE COURT: Ihave told the jury time and time again,
. that is time wasted. .
_. MR. PRITCHARD: ‘Well, gentlemen. of the jury, I can-
‘not tel you that these: are the conditions: ‘that, we are up”
again :
, THE COURT: There isno evidence that any , of these.
i conditions" exist, gentlemen of the jury.
o
RITCHARD: Well, gentlertien éf the jury, the .._
Crown made much out of. the: resolution passed of the six-
hour day. I think there is evidence to show that the But-
letin was gotten out, dealing with the tentative outline of”
organization. I think it was No. 4,-and I think somewhere
in this evidence there was mention made in No. 3 or No. 2— °
of the six-hour day. The miners wanted a six-hour’ day.
Gentlemen, they could have put that Bulletin in. The evi-
dence is to show it was gotten out through the country as to
our reasons for asking for that six-hour day. Our intent, |
&
2
*
104, _PRITCHARD'S, ADDRESS TO JURY
our niotives, ‘would have appeared in ‘the argument in that
Bulletin: ‘But it is not in. Marvellous, gentlemen, what
could be gathered together between Halifax.and Vancouver,
" is itnot? You have seen quite a lot of this stuff. What can
be gathered together, gentlemen, to suit the purpose of the
Crown in this prosecution, but it reminds me of the Trish-
man. who, was making — —
MR. ANDREWS: “Before the Irishman’ s Story is told”.
‘that.
THE COURT: Well, is the Irishman in? ~-
MR.. ANDREWS: The accused knows perfectly “well;
he said that a certain Bulletin was issued, and certain
things in it; but it does not happen to be in evidence; the
jury knbws and ‘Your Lordship knows that they could have
put them in if it was relevant to this case.
: THE ‘COURT: I am almost through telling the jury
MR. ‘ANDREWS: And the accused knows he has no
right to make a statement of that kind. ‘
TH URT: We will adjourn.
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, before we adjourn— —
‘THE GOURT: I thought this would be a good time to
adjourn.
MR. PRITCHARD: Yes, but:I have already made it
clear why we have not called that evidence. -
THE GOURT:: No, you have not.-. . -
MR. PRITCHARD: I-am entjtled to make it clear to
the jury as to the position we have taken.
-* THE COURT: Well, you- may have made it clear—-the_
position you have’ taken.
MR. PRITCHARD: But, so I may be ready tomorrow.
"morning, do you: hold. I cannot. tell the story about the’.
Trishman?
THE COURT: No.
MR. PRITCHARD: I was just about to tell it, when my:
learned friend interrupted.
MR. ANDREWS: rthe accused knows he has no right.
to state to the jury-there is a certain paper we might have
’ put in evidence—disclose certain -evidence—to raise that.
MR. PRITCHARD: Then I shall take the trouble to
go through the exhibits and show that such a Bulletin was
gotten out and that I'stated that it is in these Bulletins.
Mr. ANDREWS: ‘He has no right to say-that. -
_ THE COURT: You have no right to state that.
“PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY "105
MR. PRITCHARD: But if I show the Bulletin was
gotten out for a six-hour day, was I to infer there was noth-
ing but a heading and nothing in the policy? =
THE COURT: You have to deal with’ the evidence.
But in the meantime you may tell your story about the. .
Irishman; I have not adjourned the court and you may tell «. ,
your story about the Irishman.
- MR: PRITCHARDA had put the Irishman to ‘sleep—
but, gentlemen of the jury, he is not in evidence, but it does
not matter; a lot of things go on here that are not in evi-
nence. That argument Twas presenting —about—the—Bulle-——___-
_tin,.I said ‘it reminded me about an Irishman. There was an ~~
Englishman ‘giving a speech; it was.a remarkable speech,
not so much for what it said as for what it did not say. He
put his hand up like this (raising his hand) and said: “I
trust that you understand me.” An Irishman at the back
of the hall said: “Be jabers, I understand every word you
did not say.” And that is the story about the Irishman
(laughter).
. FOREMAN OF THE JURY: We will sleep on that,
Mr. Pritchard. 4
’
o ~
~ ~
Morning Session, Wednesday, March 24th, 1920
10 a.m. - <
- My Lord and Gentlemen of the Jury: I want you to
take a look now with me at the Western Labor Convention, -
of Calgary. I want you to keep in mind that the accusation
of our learned enemies is that thigy was an ingredient and a
’ substantial part of the seditious conspiracy, and that they
* attempted to persuade you that they have discovered this. —
They contended that at that convention we were against ©
- parliamentary action, and there seems to be, at least. to
_ my mind, an endeavor to confuse this particular issue by
interchanging the term parliamentary with -the term con:
‘ stitutional. It seems to me there has been a great anxiety
to labor a false point, namely, that the only constitutional
actiofi permitted fo the British people is to go along once
_ In five or seven years and mark a ballot and drop it in the. .
- box. If that is the sum total of the activities of the people ©
at large in the affairs of the country, what kind of a pass
should we come to? Something infinitely worse even than
what we have at the present time:'
106 - PRITCHARD’ S ADDRESS TO JURY
I think I may make the general statement.that there -
has been a steady and constant rise in the cost of living.
IT am not going to give you any figures. It is not necessary.
People may wonder why working men make objections, ~~
why they offer new demands, why it may be that they often
attempt to set aside an agreement and ask for new negotia>
tions. I will tell you. We will- consider that the figure five
wepresents the weekly. family budget of expenses, that is
, the cost of living for the working man with an average
family_can_be represented by the figure five, - and _the_wages~
; he is receivirig also are represented. by the figure five,.
’ and the landlord comes around one day ‘with. an. enve- —
‘lope and a message in it, and on April 12th, we find him
_ saying it may be “the tent of your house will be- raised from
$8.00 to $12.00.” The old lady trips off with an empty basket
to the corner-grocery store and she finds that butter, 65
« cents a-pound, suddenly. jumpg to 75 cents a pound, and so
| on all along the line. You ge¥ on a’ street car and offer a
nickle, and the fellow in-uniform says:. “You.had better
come through with another cent.” So that in all those neces- _
sary things for’ living, the figure five has. gone up to ‘the
figure six. By what process of reasoning are you going to .
», . make that “five” stretch to cover that “six.” You have to
- increase that “five” to a “six.”
—_ There is one funny thing, about the cost of living, every--
‘body seems to be engaged in the business of pulling it down.
out of the atmosphere and nailing it on-the floor, but;they .
haven’t accomplished it yet. For the cost of living does go:
“up in a way I tried to show by that little problem. I am
going to ask you and I am going to ask my learned friends
if, under those conditions, with an almost daily increase in .°
- the: cost of the staples‘ of life, if at this day-and-date the -
‘working men shall be backed into a corner and told: “What .
are you worrying about the cost of living for?” Well, it
‘may be that there are some married men with wives and
+ children who may not worry their heads about ‘it, but the -_
partners of their joys and sorrows will worry their heads
about it. “What do you want to worry yourself about the
« cost of living for; there is an election coming on in 1928!”
—that is if the people i in power go to:the country when they
said they would.
‘There are other ways,’ in the course ‘of history, where.
by.man can attempt to redress grievances, and my e
ence, and the’ experience of my. fellow-workers has been
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY | 407 -
that, generally speaking, ‘they have been driven into a
corner. before they take any kind of action. They are. always.
~ _ the’ first to suffer, and they suffer all the time. Possibly ~
' . it is for this very reason that our opponents shout when the: ;
- action of the working men may bring a little inconvenience’
to them. Inconvenience; suffering, and hardship are the lot
of the workers ori such occasions, nothing new to-them,. ~
‘-- and consequently they are victims of. that familiarity which
———qsed-to- it:
a Well, it has been. urged, and. I am ready to ‘admit it,
‘that there were. some fairly definite expressions on the: mat- ..
ter of. Trades Unions allowing their executive bodies to- go.
; gret to. the: Parliament Houses ‘lobbying - for so-called re- -
breeds contempt. .The other ‘man: gets, excited. He is not. -
rms.’ Suppose, gentlemen, you. were ‘industrial: workers *
‘instead of agricultural. workers, and you ‘were members of -
different unions inthe city. Your unions, ‘we will-say,.are -
, all bound together for the discussion of their. common griev-
_. ances in what is known as a Trades and Labor Council.” And’. =~
“outside of these city workers there are workers.in other ..
*.- ‘parts ‘of the province, and apart from being bound. together -
in the Trades and Labor Council of -the city, the entire ©
‘organized workers are affiliated on the basis of theirecon- © *’
. omic ‘strength, with an organization’ that will be called ale
Provincial Federation. of Labér. And we will suppose that ..
- this Federation of Labor from the years 1910, up until the
* present time has held its annual conventions, has laid down .
its policies, has given its instructions to its Executive Com;
mittees, and over and. above that, gentlemen, has further -
taken all the conclusions of -its provincial conventions and -
submitted them for revision to a vote-of the rank and file.
And suppose that once a year only that Executive Commit--: . .
tee goes over to the capital city—if we were speaking of -
British Columbia it..woul@ be. Victoria—and the. whole ac- . .
- cumulation - of:- -grievanc of that entire mass: of workers ~
throughout that province were: to-be taken: before the
Provincial Cabinet in: Victoria. And when you get there,
after having sent word that you were coming—made the
date—and you have done this year after. year—when- you
get there there are only a few.of His Majesty’s Ministers
, waiting to listen to -you.. Those that are there, say: “Take
a seat” (looking at watch) / “Now I have some very. im-’
‘portant business on. I have just. fifteen or twenty minutes
time to listen to what you have to say.” ” (Looking at t watch).
“108 PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY
Half the Cabinet away, and the other half wanting to get.
- away in a hurry, and you have Workmen’s Compensation
’ Laws, Relief Acts, Wage Laws and all the other things that
-are necessary under the present conditions of the working
men. -
What would you. do, gentlemen,. after some. years of
"that? That resolution passed at the Western Canada Cal-. —
gary Convention has been twisted through the use of legal
’ jingle into meaning that every man in that convention ‘and
___that_entire_body_repudiated-political-action- of-the-working
class, because we said that no more would we send our
exécutives lobbying Parliament for palliatives. that do not
palliate. Do you‘see anything. seditious in that? Instead of
sending our executives over and over agaifi to carry on this
yearly lobbying, they said we will build up our organizations.
on the job; that is, the workers in the shipyards;- workers
. on the street railway; the workers on the water front, and
those men who take their lives in their hands every day,
falling timbers in the wilds. of British Columbia—we will
build up our organizations and develop in ourselyes a sense
of brotherhood, one with another, and educate ourselves as
- to the most efficient method ‘of dealing with our disputes.
Do you blame us, gentlemen, as workers? Would you con- -
sider that seditious?
; There may have been some in the Calgary ‘Convention,
some two of the delegates, as I remember, who wanted the
. Convention to ignore Parliaments altogether. Some were
at the other end of the plank and wanted that Convention
to start and make'a new political party. There were others,
’ myself included, who tried to point out that we had already
~ some political parties of the working class, and that a man
might join these if he so desired, according to his light and
opinion—that he could join the Labor Party by paying a
dollar for admission fee; that he could join-the Socialist
_ Party if he considered that to.be the best political expression -
of working class needs; that he might, if he so desired, join
the Social Democratic Party.
_ | _.The logic of the situation was this:-If there are already
certain political parties in existence, why is this Convention
composed of representatives of certain Trades Unions talk-
- ing about forming a political: party?.What business have
they to do so, especially when it was discovered that not a
man on the floor had any instructions along that ‘line?
It has been pointed out by learned counsel for the
s
oy
MAY
‘ : -
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO.JURY _ 109
Crown that I was there representing Vancouver Trades
and Labor Council. How did that happen? We will sup-
pose, gentlemen, that I was a member of a Trades Union
in Vancouver; we will suppose it is the International Long-
shorémen’s Association, and that I had been sent by the.
_ votes of the members of ‘that Trades Union as a delegate
to the Trades and Labor Council at an election, which is
held, we. will say, once every three months—and that is a
democratic election, to my’ mind—-onee every three months.
Something _of that-kind_-might-be-the-best- -possible-means-of
avoiding graft in political affairs. If you put a man in for
three months, and he develops signs of graft, you get him
at the end of the three months. That is the democracy in
’ the Trades Union. Give a man a seven year term, and if the
man be clever, and on the right side, is it to be wondered at
. that he might go in there a poor man and come out some-
thing different? But if he knows he is to.be there only for -
three months, and that if he doesn’t do the wishes of his
constituents he will, to use a vulgar phrase, get the hatchet
right where the chicken got it two days before Christmas,
he will endeavor to do his best for the people he represents.
The Trades and Labor Council of Vancouver is affiliated
with the B. C. Federation of Labor; affiliated with the
Trades Congress of Canda; affiliated with all the different
International Unions in the different cit¥es of the United
States, and the American Federation of Labor. Because
of the reasons that I-have enumerated, the Western-dele-
gates down at the Trades Congress, as'a result of those
accumulations of disgust over a period of years, had decided
to send out:a call, which would be voted on, as to the West-
ern delegates holding a Convention of their own. before the
next Congress met. “I a mnot sure, but in this correspond-
ence you may find that at the Western Caucus down at
‘Quebec it was resolved that a meeting be held for the West-
_ erm delegates a week prior to the next Congress. However, .
the Western Convention was called.
his is what I want to make clear to you.. It seems to -
me t counsel for the Crown were trying, by inference,
to m§We something out of the fact that first of all you get
at a-certain date the Alberta Federation of Labor Conven-
tion, then right on the heels of that you get the United
Mine Workers. of America Convention, District 18—that
takes in the coal mines of British Columbia in the Crows
Nest Pass, on the Main Line, Canmore, Bankhead, and away
¢
2
110 : PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY
up to Drumheller, and those points up to the Yellowhead
Pass—that these were all held together, ‘and the very fact
that these Conventions were held in that fashion, close to-
gether, would in itself suggest some master-mind, or a num-
. ber of master-minds running these Conventions, with -sedi-
tious intent. ;
Gentlemen, in the Exhibits of the Crown you can find
. that this Western Calgary Convention was to be held -in
January, 1919, but the “Flu,” that dread disease, inter-
‘vered and it had to be postponed.
.- + The B. C. Federation of Labor Convention—why should
it come out of British Columbia? When you have an organ-
-ization, for instance, which wants to run candidates in.an
election, which is close on, and they find they have only
- $135.00 for the campaign, “and it takes $600.00 for the
deposits of the candidates, it is not likely to waste expenses.
And when the membership of an organization in British
Columbia have endorsed the call for a Western Canada
Convention, and vote to send delegates; and they are also
to send delegates to ‘their own Federation Convention, is it
“ not good policy to-have the same delegates hold credentials
‘to both Convenions at the same place, and by that means
save expense—that means something to a working class
organization, the saving of expenses. There are thousands
of these innocent instances that, can be explained, genile-
‘men, but it takes time to dissipate wrong inferences thrown
out by the Crown. Just something after the same fashion
that a steam shovel picks up half a ton of coal and scatters
it around the place, and we have to go around and pick up
_ the pieces of coal and put them back in their place:
I can understand very well, after the time you have .
been here, that you are feeling tired and you would like to
go home. I feel like that myself. But, gentlemen, I dare
not, as I value my liberty, I dare not leave any of these -
points untouched. As for the vast multitude of trivialities .
that have been brought in here, I let them pass, but on these
main questions, on all these things that have been twisted
and given an altogether different meaning from the one
they originally held, I must deal with them, gentlemen, and
I must ask you, irrespective of what you may think now, or
what you may do in the future—I must ask you to bear
with me as I go from point to point. It is not: only difficult
to bring these things to your attention so that you may
understand them, but-there is also the difficulty of keeping -
-PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ann
my own mind clear as to whether or not I can tell you what
occurred—is it in evidence in any one of these Exhibits? _
But I did go as a delegate to the Western Canada Con-
' vention at Calgary, and you may suppose, being sent there
——Galgary—from—Regina,_from—Moose_Jaw,_from_Transcona,
‘by the Trades and Labor Council of Vancouver, that I was
sent there by acclamation. I can’t remember any other
Trades-and Labor Council having representatives there,
except as the Crown has told you, R. B. Russell and R. J:
Johns, represented Winnipeg. But. here were delegates at
from Edmonton, Saskatoon and other places. Some of these |
delegates, as we went along, contributed many bright
‘ thoughts and ideas. Yes—I remember now, there was a
' fellow from Saskatoon’ Trades and Labor Council by the’
* name of W. Mills, and thére is a resolution that he intro-
_ duced, which I will deal with later on.
You will remember, gentlemen, that- counsel for the
Crown addressed you with a certain amount of emphasis—
in fact, it appeared to me that the arguments of the counsel
__for_the Crown, whatever they may have lacked in logic,
4
they made up. for it in emphasis—these resolutions and dis-
cussions of the delegates—which were read with an air-of .
great finality—-were declared seditious, eyery one of them.
Well, let us go through a few of them. I do not want to go
over the ground Mr. Trueman went over so much, butIam .
going to read them to you without the bitter accent and’
- prejudicial expressions given by the counsel for-the Crown, _
and I think I can lay claim to be able to read-these resolu-
tions to you in a hetter form than any lawyer could, because,
as the counsel for the Crown contends, I was ‘there—they
" "were not.
On page 10 of the report of the Western Canada Labor
Conference you have this resolution: “Delegate Kavanagh,
Chairman—- — ” Now, gentlemen, before I touch that let
me take you-back again in your mind’s eye to. that box
when the witness Perry was there. I asked him about ©
Labor Conventions, and if a man introduced a resolution in.
a Labor Convention, did it necessarily follow that he was
the father of that. resolution; that, for instance, if John _
Jones, a delegate from the Plumbers’ Union, brings in a -
resolution, generally speaking, it is not the resolution of
. John, Jones, but is a resolution which has already been dis- -
cussed and passed upon by the Plumbers’ Union and given _
to him, with instructions as to what he should do with it as
112 _ PRITCHARD! s ADDRESS TO JURY
a delegate to that Convention. He "ola you how these. Con-
ventions were run, didn’t he. You remember we went over
the 16th Annual Convention of the United Mine Workers
of America, and I said: “Mr. Perry, you reported that Con- ..
vention, did you not?” He said: “Yes.’”’ “You have reported
other Conventions, -have you not?” “Yes.” “Did you report
thé 15th Annual Convention of the United Mine Workers?” .
“Yes.” “Do you remember they passed a resolution before
they adjourned, setting the date and place for the next
“Convention?” “Yes, they did.” “So that the arrangements
—forthat-16th7 Annual: Convention for the United Mine Work-
ers of America were laid down at the 15th Annual Conven-
tion? “Yes.” And so were the Alberta Federation Conven--.
tions. All these things are pre-arranged from time to time.
Yet they are thrown together and by inference counsel for
the Crown would’ have you believe -that this was some
. seditious scheme to start a revolution—yet every. one of
them were arranged by the one that went before. ~~
At these Conventions, as you may know, the delegates
strike off their various committees. At the Grain Growers
or Farmers~ Conventions: much-the=same » procedure is‘ fol-
lowed—a certain number of delegates-are told-off as a Reso- ~~
lution, «Committee— a Committee of Ways and Means,_2 a
Conimittee on Constitutional: Law, and so on, and each of ~~
these committees have their chairman. And every one of -
the resolutions brought .in by every delegate from their
own unions goes to the Resolution Committee, and the
Chairman of the Resolution Committee gives those- resolu- .
tions to the meeting.
This is resolution No. 1: “Realizing that the aims and
objects of the Labor Movement should be-the improving of
the social and economic condition. of society in general, and
‘the working class in particular; AND WHEREAS the pres-
-ent’ system of production for profit and the institutions re-
sulting therefrom, prevent. this being achieved; BE IT
‘RESOLVED, that the aims: of Labor as represented by this ,
Convention are the abolition of the present system of pro-
duction for profit, and the substituting therefor, production ~"
for use, and that a system of propaganda to this end be .
~ earried on. ad
If that be seditious, gentlemen, let me say this, that it
_is a late day in the world’ s history to find it so, and itisa
funny place in the British Empire to declare it so—in the
Province of Manitoba. ; ,
ov
“i
reo
_
-PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 1B |
_ There is something in those Exhibits about the Roch.”
dale Co-operative Movement, whose motto is: “All for each
and each for all.” “To.every man according to his needs—
from every man according to his ability.” What is that,
gentlemen, but production for use instead of production for
profit? Many, many moons have come and gone since the -
Rochdale pioneers launched the Co-operative Movement.
‘Then there came the resolution that was made so much
of, and which I have dealt with last night and this morning:
Provincial and.Dominion Executives to the Legislative As-
semblies, pleading for the passage of: Legislation which is
rarely passed, arid which would. be futile if-it were, is now
obsolete. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that this Con-
ference of Western Workers lay.down as its policy the build-
ing up of organizations of workers on industrial lines for
- the purpose of enforcing —-— ” How that word rankles in.
“WHEREAS, great and drastic changes. have taken place -
in the industrial world; AND WHEREAS, in the past the:
.. policy of organized labor of this country .in sending their ..
he
the legal mind. Amongst the workingmen, generally speak- _ _
ing, there_are no very. fine distinctions in language.’ Where *
are very few of them, gentlemeh, suffer from a university
“degradation’—but they are educated—I WANT TO-TELL
——¥OU THAT, GENTLEMEN., Education is not sométhing |
which proceeds from reputed halls of learning;-education is ~
the realization of the problems that stand in front of you
and me. That is education. And the school of real educa-
tion is the school of experience in the material world. There
is a big difference between education and instruction—I am 7
not going to develop that—I may have time later on, when.
the mists have .blowk away, to tell:the-people in Winnipeg
the difference betwéen instruction and education, but IL.
must pass on. “../...For the purpose of enforcing....”
Gentlemen, why. give that term a sinister meaning?-“In
' framing resolutions, you’may,"use terms which might be
’ very simple to your minds, but which an astute lawyer could, ©
long after they had been passed, perhaps twist into some-
thing to suit himself. It may be that at some Farmers’
‘Convention they may come to the conclusion that the pres-
ent Government has acted in such a manner that they may
go to the extreme limit of-asking that Government to ~
resign. Suppose the Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, Machinists,
and Longshoremen, in Convention, passed a yesolution de-
-
CAP ee
ae
at “
_—~
Ba. "| PRETCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY
‘manding that the Government should resign? Is there any
-real difference in the two resolutions? I don’t think so.
- a2. *,,, Such demands as such organizations may at any . .
- time consider necessary for their continued maintenance |
and well being.....”. “Such demands”—what for? To end:
this eternal aviation of the cost of life’s necessities? The .
Crown seem-to think there is something very distressful in
this. “May at any time consider necessary for their con-
tinued maintenance and well being.” Do you seé anything
sinister in “for their continued maintenance and_ well .
being?”—*‘And-shall not be, as heretofore, the sending of
' . Executive officers.to plead before Legislatures. for the pass-
.
ing of legal palliatives which do not palliate.” I have dealt
with that—with those half-hour trips to the’ Government
officials. ©
‘Then there was the resolution that | Mr. Trueman dealt
with, but it would seem to me that if J did not mention it,
it would be held to my account that I deliberately avoided
it.. I do not mean to avoid anything, although it is impos-
sible for me to go through. one thousand and ten Exhibits
and deal with each. one singly.—
RESOLUTION No. 5: o WHEREAS; holding the belief
in the ultimate supremacy of thé working class in matters
’ economic and-political and that the light of modern devel-
opments have proved that the legitimate aspirations of the
Labor Movement are repeatedly: obstructed by-the existing
- “This Convention expresses its open conyidtion that
‘the system of industrial Soviet control by selection of
; represefitatives: from industries is. more efficient and of |
greater political value than the present ‘system: of Govern-.' -
'. was also made a lot of: “The Convention sends fraternal © ;
ment by selection from district.
“This Convention declares its full acceptance, of the
jent - for. the transformation of ‘capitalist . private
gentlemen, and I will have to deal with it at Jength. This
greetings to the Russian Soviet Government, the Spartacans.
in Germany, and all definite working class Inovements in.
Europe and the world, recognizing they have won first place
in the history of the class struggie.”
This Convention, you will recall, , gentlemen, Was, hel
. ee
Ve ’ mal
‘to communal wealth.” That was -made a lot of,:
’ political forms, clearly showing the capitalistic. nature: of soo
- the Parliamentary machinery.
. principle of “Proletarian Dictatorship,” as being absolute — . :
~
" PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS. TO JURY Boe _ oH °
- in “March, 1919. a I ‘could show you that in “March, 1918, -
President “Wilson, who at that time appeared to be the chief. ,
spokesman for the Allies, himself sent greetings to the Con- Jn
gress of all Russian Soviets of the workers, peasants and’.’
’ goldiers, stating in these greetings. that the attitude fort e~
Western countries toward Russia would’ be the acid’ test
_ of their good will, then what are you going to say ‘to that?
“That.was flashed all over the world, across the wires, over
- the cables, ‘reported ‘practically in every newspaper of any
account, that—President—Wilson;—of—the~United States—of—
America, ‘sends his greetings to the Congress then being -
held of Soviets of: Moscow—and that is done in March, 1918, :
Twelve months later, right.to the very month, the. working
-men passed a similar resolution. Would you gay, gentlemen,
-that President Wilson had executed.a wonderful political ©
victory for himself,.and that twelve months later the same
‘resolution .by the working men. in Western Canada. was.
seditious? Would you say.that? From these Exhibits I
‘ean show you. that President’ Wilson did send greetings to
; that Congress.in March, 1918." __. P
And‘ that.’ ‘also, ge gentlemen, from these Exhibits we ¢
could show ‘you that working class political parties in their
-Conventions, and the Trades Unions in their Conferences in -
7 Britain, both before our.own Calgary Convention and after~
that Calgary Convention, had -sent similar greetings, what
decision will you come to?: That working men’s Congresses
‘throughout the length and breadth of the ace
“ean send greetings of. this kind, but it must not be in
gary, it must not be in: Manitoba. It is all right in Notting- |
ham; all right ‘in Southport ; all right in London; all right
in Glasgow; - -all right. in, Manchester, but, gentlemen; ‘a
horrible crime in Calgary; a horrible crime in Winnipeg.
Are you going to take that position ?. It is for you to decide.
. ‘As Ihave told you, I am not worrying & great déal about it,
because, as I develop these points, I.am going to show you
' that: it is not a matter merely of Pritchard’s personal lib-
erty—it will be a matter of history, history- that I am sure .
will defend us’ in that respect. I told you how.the name of
‘Galileo today is respected, and the names of his persecutors:. |
and traducers almost - forgotten. What are the. learned
; gentlemen for the crown doing, gentlemen? What. are they’.
oing? They do not know. They: learn nothing. They for- —
: get nothing. . Why. are they building up a case,. gentlemen,
in: ‘this year 1920 in’ the City of Winnipeg? Are they build- :
7
. . —_
.
“6 00. PRITCHARD’ s ADDRESS ‘TO JURY | 4
—ihg* up-a-case” for-ancther purpose than-that the world+ should
me
remember the name of. Pritchard or some other obscure
workman, while it may forget with ignominy and contempt .
the name of A. J. Andrews, King’s Counsel, member of the
King’s Bench? Are 'they- doing that? I want to.tell you
that just as Mr. Andrews said he was doing a good turn
for me in bringing some of these things to light, I want to,
tell him with the same amount of sincerity that I am doing
the same thing. I am going: to deal a little later with the .
“Dictatorship of the- Proletariat.”
There-is an Exhibit here, the latter half of which I want
to:deal with. You will remember it was put in the Commun-_
‘ist Manifesto in ‘another form. This-is-an article written
_some years ago by the father of Karl Liebknecht. You will
notice how I brought to your attention, in some of these -
’ Exhibits, that Karl Liebknecht had been sent to a gaol.
several times, although by the Law of the land he was an
‘officer in the army of that country. He had been sent: to ~
gaol several times because of his exposure of the German
- military machine. In 1909 he gave to the world an expos- .
ure of the international armament ring, and Showed Prus-
’ sia’s part in it. “Militarism” is the name of the book. He -
“went to gaol.’ We on this side of the water. hold Liebknecht .
as the most courageous" man‘in: all Europe;. the one man
?, ‘that stood up in those fateful days of 1914, member of the.
.. Reichstag, and. openly defied the Chancellor. He_ voted-
_ against the war credits, and ‘pointed: out to~the > s0-called:-
Social Democrats, who are: being recognized more or less:
‘now to be the power ‘in “Germany—the_ Ebert, Scheidemann
Government—that they were “K aiser-Socialists,” interested
in the colonizing schemes of the Kaiser. You will remember
‘in the early days. of the war that Scheidemann, David and
others ‘were given commissions by ‘the Kaiser himself to
_ go to the various countries.in an attempt-to persuade par-
‘ ticularly the Socialists, and: workers. ‘of Italy to bring press-
-ure “to bear upon their Government, so that they would
‘-* stay with the old Triple Alliance of Italy, Austria-Hungary,
and Germany. And it is to. the credit.of the Italian Social- —
ists, and history will record that fact, that they told’ Scheide-
. mmann-to go back home, that they. would have nothing to do.
, _ either with him or his ‘masters. -
By .an irony’ of. fate, it. may seem, ‘the father of Karl
" Liebimecht, William Liebknecht, went to gaol in the Franco- :
. Prussian War, in 1870, for doing the same as his son did in -
ve
tan)
‘PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY : _ 117 |
1914. He wrote this little pamphlet years ago, and he deals
with this “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”—horrible sound-
-ing phrase—on page 30 of his “No Compromise.” He said:
“The political power which the Social Democracy aims at :
- and which it will win, no matter what its enemies may do,
has not for its object.the establishment of a dictatorship of
- the proletariat, but the suppression of the dictatorship of
the. bourgeoisie.” That is what he meant. “Just as the class
struggle, which the proletariat carries on.is only a counter-
struggle in self-defense-to resist the class struggle of the 1-
bourgeoisie against the proletariat; and the end of this
struggle by the victory of the proletariat will be& the aboli-
tion of the class struggle in-every form.”
. Then he goes on to tell them how.they must stand in
with the Laws according to which political and social evolu- :
..tion goes.on: : “We know we can no. more introduce at. will
Socialistic production and a Socialist form of society than ‘*
the German Kaiser, nine years ago, could carry out ‘his
February proclamations”’—this: was written quite a long
time back—“against the ‘representatives of the capitalistic .‘-
class struggle. Therefore, w® were able to watch with:
smiling indifference the attempt of our opponents to crush
the Labor Movements by force. We were and still are sure
of.our success, as sure as the solution of a mathematical
-
' problem, -but we know also ‘that the shifting of relations, .
though it goes on unceasingly, yet goes on gradually be-
cause it is an organic ‘movement. ” The egg and the chicken,
gentlemen—goes.on gradually—an organic movement. “And
it goes on, too, without destruction of the existing rela- ”
tions.” Notice this——“The removal of the dead ig not de-
. struction.” “The,.destruction of the existing, of the living,
. is, in general, impossible.” It might be interesting to read
_ more from that, but it is ‘not necessary for my present
purpose, .
. Then, dealing with that tern that.I dealt with yester-
‘ day, “Revolution,” the term that has been, perhaps, inflated,
or if I might use that expression, blown up likea baloon, .
possibly more than ‘any other that the Crown has gathered.
That is the active ingredient in the bottle of medicine that **
they mixed up. (Reading): “The catchword revolution is :, *.
"certainly ridiculous. Ridiculous it certainly is—and rfo.one “~
has *expressed this more clearly than myself—to drop the’
-words ‘Revolution’ and “Revolutionary’ out of the mouth at
every. opportunity. It can become as mechanical.a song as
a
apd
118 © " "* + PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO yORY
saying one’s beads. But ridiculous : as it is to boast of be- ;
- longing to the party and to. express one’s views-at every - .
‘+ opportunity. when there is no necessity for it, still such ex-
aggerations do not justify us in throwing away. the good’ |
with the bad, and declaring that to emphasize the revolu-
tionary character of our party is, under all circumstances,
——ridiculous-’-“Such- exaggerations donot justify us in thro | rr
ing away-the good with the bad.” -Do you see any force in .
that argument? It would be the height of absurdity to
. throw away,the good with the bad. -
Dealing with the wire to Berg, and as to the letter that
_he wrote, counsel for the Crown said: “But did Pritchard
withdraw from this?” What is it? Conspiracy or concoc-
.tion? “Did he withdraw from this concoction ?”—and throw
, away the good with the bad?- Any sense in that?: (Read-
ing): “It is serious because membership in the Social De- -
mocrac means a struggle, a political struggle with grievous
' persecution, and a private struggle for existence; a struggle
that, for‘the majority, is far more difficult and heavy than
’ the’. ‘political struggle. And it is necessary because the
Ss courage of this two-fold struggle is ‘created only by the con- - -
sciousness that the injustice of society by which the great. -—-—--
majority of mankind are téday oppressed, corrupted ‘and .
erippled,. can’ only bé- abolished -through a revolutionary
- movement.” —
- While I am dealing with this subject, gentlemen, I will
leave myself in the middle of the Calgary Convention for.
the time being. You will remember how my learned friend
talked about. our use of the term bourgeoisie. He used the
term. : What does he mean? He said: “It means the middle
. -class,” those people who started in when they were young
‘and worked hard and then got a-corner lot somewhere out _
on Sherbrooke Street, turned it over to somebody at.a pro-
. fit, who has been trying to-get rid of it, so they would not.
have to pay the taxes, ever since. He said these are the .
people these men mean by the term bourgeoisie: Gentlemen,’
I was amused, I am telling you honestly. First of all I saw --
my learned friend ab a sociologist then with chameleon-
’ like rapidity he changed to a historian; then he became an
economist; finally he came ‘Gown as a moralist. But as a.
historian he was funnier than ever he could ‘be.as a moralist.
He took the Communist Manifesto, where Marx refers
to the middle class of Germany, to explain the term, but at
that timé, in 1848, there was a revolution in Germany.
“
.° PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO.JURY - le +
+
- against the landed aristocracy, by the bourgeoisié, which __
-. was. then, under those circumstances, the middle class. They
were thrown back after having succeeded for a while, and
that aristocracy still remained in the saddle. I think His
Lordship will permit me to tell you that there is in Scot-
land a town by the name of Edinburgh, and that there are -
in Germany. ‘towns_by_the name-of-Hambureg- -and-Mecklen-——
-burg; that in France-there is a town by the name of Cher-
Bourg. What-do these names-mean, gentlemen? Coming to
the Old Land, you come across Leicester, Chester, Man-
+ chester, and all those other names that end with Chester-——
what do they signify—that everyone has been built upon .
the site of an early Roman camp. And when you go through
these countries of Europe and you find these towns, and
the end of the name of the town is “burg”’—-what does
that mean? These are the towns of the Middle Ages.’ People
-. came together in their various blsiness and commercial
needs. In these towns, as they grew, there were what came
‘s
£
“m
to be called free townsmen or burgesses, men who by acquir-
ing certain money at that time, could purchase privileges
from the King, and who finally went into business.
In the process of time, in the hills of Bohemia, silver
mines were discovered, and:men had to go to work in those
mines, and they had to be clothed—like I have discovered .
in Winnipeg this winter, you have to be clothed or else you .
- would have to be cut off above the knees—you need woollen
"garments next the skin. Then, with the growth of these
burgess townsmen throughout Europe, there came .the —
‘raising of sheep; the days of. Henry-VIIL, the enclosing -
of the common land, and the Weaving of wool into cloth;
business was growing. These were the’brokers, townsmen, mt
burgesses; these were the ancestors of the modern capitalist
class, and the term bourgeois is a historical term with a
historical meaning—-from the French. But the modern
- capitalist class, the owners of the trusts, the ‘financial mag
-nates, that is what we mean by the bourgeosie.
I told you what we mean by proletariat; andI am going .
.. to ask you this, without any ego, in dealing with proletariat
‘and in dealing with bourgeoisie, certainly Mr. Andrews may
’ have known that little bit of history; but; I am going to
‘ask you te come to a conclusion, too, whether the learned .
' counsel ‘for the-Defense, Pritchard, or the|learned counsel.
for the Crown, Mr.-Andrews, khows the“more about what
he i is saying in this regard. -
“a
ny
~ : - 1 7 .
ed , oe ~ on - ,
. a - . - : 7 ‘
oo . . .
a
‘that is al
- 120 " PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS’TO JURY - ——-
?
. There is the resolution, passed at-Calgary, on dictator-
ship, the suppression of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie
it means—in other words, to put it in good,-
simple language so that you may understand—the suppres- .
sion of the dictatorship of the financiers, the suppression of |
‘the dictatorship of what is known in popular parlance as
the profiteer; the suppression of the dictatorship of the
__bourgeoisie; the suppression of the dictatorship of the Pat-
tons, the Flavelles, the Rosses and the Allisons; the sup-
pression- of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The sup-
pression of the untrammeled dictatorship of the financiers -
of foreign lands in Canada; the suppression of the dictator-
ship of the unscrupulous: Wall Street financiers as they -
operate the copper mines in British Columbia, without. any
~ regard for the workmen in any. respect—only "for profit for
the Guggenheims and Rockefeller’s Standard Oil-Company: _
Go out into the pockets of the hills where they pick copper.
Who are the owners? The suppression of the dictatorship ©
of the bourgeoisie. .Backus, at Fort Francis, would /let
"5 Canada go without daily newspapers so that his investments
“be maintained, and profits flow from the production of pulp
_ down at Fort Francis into the coffers of, as far as we are -
concerned, gentlemen, unknown persons that adorn Wall’
Street in the United States. I know, in the Law, we have
nothing to do with the United States, but.I know. that-you .
cannot touch an industry.i in Canada of any account without
‘touching United States capital. -
There is a different tradition behind the Labor Move-
ment of Britain than there is behitid: the Labor Movement
of America. Some of! the greatest’ struggles have been
fought out between capital and labor in the last few years.
You will get a 2 x 4 strike in someone’s backyard in the
States, and immediately you get gunmen and hired thugs
.to break it. There is a.difference between the-history of
~. the, Labor Movement in British countries'and the Labor
Movement in America. So we have something to do with
- America -after -all. . a
Now, I would like to read, without worrying you, ‘gentle-
men, from an article in the “Glasgow Forward.” This is -
from Exhibit 492.-This article was reprinted in the “Red
_ Flag,” of May 24, 1919. Some of you may know the “Glas-
gow Forward, ” and know something of its history. If you:
don’t, I can’t "tell- you, anyway. Here is an article by Wil- .
liam Stewart, in the “Glasgow Forward,” on “Dictator- —
-PRITCHARD’S-ADDRESS'TO JURY saa...
“ship.” ‘He said: “The idea of dictatorship as a method of
government-.has,;evér since the revolution.in Russia, be-
eome familiar in discussions concerning -hational and ‘inter-
".. national politics. It has been discusséd-dlmost as if it were
a
a
. something new, whereas it is.thé-only méthod of govern- ”’ '-
.ment that has been practised in the-history- of organized. “
mote
society:_Nearly-every-form-of swat is called democracy has -
merely -been. camouflaged dictatorship, nominally: vesting — ..
the power of government in tke people or in sections of the
... people,, but retaining. it actually in the hands of a select | -
‘-{- minority.’ In Russia alone thas democracy frankly accepted -.
- .of the other practitioners of ‘government dictatorship the *
the responsibilities of .gdvernment, and declared itself as «-
the dictatorship of the proletariat. The unconcealed alarm. -
» wide world over,. but especially -in this country, is at.‘once
’ comical and tragic.”—And this*is one point I want to drive . «%
to the sacred. principle-of -democracy. They are also pre-. =>
‘
home.——“They are prepared to shed tears'over the dangers <.
‘pared to raise’darmies to destroy’ the dictatotship-—in Rus- |
sia. But there-has always-been dictatorship in Russia; and’ ~: -
up until two years: ago our British statesmen were-in rio °
.
| hurry to organize military expeditions for its destruction.”. - :
- --When I come to deal with that phase of the situation, I. *..
ste
t
am going to show you, gentlemei,-—talk about'strong resolu; .
tions in the Walker Theatre, strong resolution from any-
- where else—the strongest’ words I have ever read against. _
- ‘intervention:in Russia -were 'two different articles, one an.* ;
editorial from the “Manchester Guardian,” and the’other ~
a.speech of Senator J ohnson’s down in the United States . .
Senate.
“So it wauld seem that the ‘objectionable thing is not ; .
the dictatogghip, but.the people or interests who wield ‘it.
_ The dictatorship_of the Romanoffs was tolerable, even ad-
mirable, ‘and:international alliances could be made with it,
but the dictaforship of Lenin and Trotsby !.that is a horrible -
“thing.” Arid so the article goes on. “Henry VIII. objected
to the diétatorship 6f Rome in his matrimonial affairs, and "
_ 0 began-the.English Reformation. It is really an exceeding- | ~
_ly interesting: study, this question of dictatorships, and not
devoid of humorous aspects. But it is said that the Russian
revolutionists refuse to allow the bourgeoisie any share in
-the dictatorship.' Naturally. It wouldn’t be a proletarian
. dictatorship if they did. It may,be wrong and reprehens-
ible, but that is: what dictatorships-have always* done. In
‘
ae
—
. 2 ‘PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO SURY
7 this country the. feudal dictatorship refused to allow the
new middle. class—the bourgeoisie, in-fact—any. share in ;
the government, until the middle class nearly rose in rebel- ©.
lion-and threatened to play the very deuce with the ven- 7
_erable-British constitution?’ You will remember my tell-
cing you yesterday of the_abdication_of-James—Ik,-in-1688
- “and 1689—that is what he is referring to.. “The combined "
_ feudal-commercial dictatorship refused to allow-the working .
* class any share.in the.government; and now, if the working
’ class should: assume the dictatorship, and. should, in their
turn, exclude these others, it will doubtless be~ altogether .
’ undemocratic, but it will certainly be according to prece-
dent. .And it will have this disfinction. For the first time
* dictatorship | will be in the hands of the majority..:In the’
- past minorities have dictatéd. Can-it be that the dictator-
ship of the working class is merely the consummation of
-thetong evolutionary process gradually transferring power -
- from the few tothe many? Can it be that the dictatorship
of-the proletariat is simply athe practical expression of the
will-of the people? If so, the organizing of military
ditions to stifle it will be not only. foolish, but futile. Evolu-
tion cannot. be stopped, not even when’ it takes: ‘the form: of - |
revolution. a
: .I have gone over that situation in Russian, gentlemen,
‘in order to explain to you our viewpoint in passing this
.- resolution in the Calgary Convention.
“You .will remember, I told -you, -in dealing with the
Socialist Party’s position, in regard to political action, yes- _
' terday, how this fellow. Kavanagh had stated that it was:
’ “None of our business at this Convention.” :-This is from
the Western Labor Conference minutes, page. 107:. “Dele-
- gate Sinclair (Vancouver): ‘Do I understand. there % is‘ no
+ political action. at all?’ ~
oo “Delegate Kavanagh (Vancouver, Chairman ‘of. Com-
7 mittee) x ‘Not this Convention; not within ‘the scope of this - 7
Conference; it is purely an industrial organization, founded.
along industrial lines. Either going in favor or going against
is not within the scope of this Conference, and as such we
lay it on the table; it is our duty at this moment.’.” .
- Suppose, gentlemen—be patient with me—that the
farmers organize for the purpose of bettering conditions at
the elevator, it may be even for the purpose of combining _
to have a common elevator, for the purpose of getting better _
conditions with respect to the placing .of your cars from
: ¢@
eo
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY. 1238 \
: time ta time—you form an organization—that is your ~:
- ecenomic organization. - Transfer that into the industrial ,
world, and it would he what we call an industrial organiza-
tion.. It is purely an industrial organization, founded along »
industrial lines.
~Then;-suppose- the farmers of Ontario, over. and above
purpose, went to work
on. And this political
coygentions, elects office?s, erects ond maintains its machin-
erys ould you admi questions that are the business of
the political organization, and would be dealt with -at the
. convention of the political organization, and attempt to.
deal with those questions in the economic organization
Seonvention? Would you? I don't: think so, If you did you “&”
would be doing something to which you had not been com- . “=..
“mitted; you would be following a line along which you had
not been instructed.
Consequently, an economic organization of the workers
. cannot pretend to.lay down political lines of action for these
workers—that is purely within the province of those work-.
ers themselves.” - ;
' Yesterday, gentlemen, I had a sweet, melodious tenor; ;
today : T have a deep baritone. - ote
“Deligate. Sinclair (Vancouver): ‘If -it- comes to elect +
representétives of our own calibre at all, there will have to |
be political action’ taken some time sooner or later, and it
-would he through ‘the workmen; it doesn’t matter how it
comes, it Bas got to come some time, and until we have men
_ of our own'calibre,:you will never get what you want; never
will. Now, what I want you to be clear on is this; practically
, at n no time have labor ‘men been united for to take political
a ion. 299 woe
“By the Chairman: ‘That matter has not been decided.
or, stated definitely -by. this Convention.”
So you see the charge that that Convention repudiated
‘ political action, in its proper place, falls fo the ground both
‘In substance and in fact. —
.. But in this regard, fortunately, I. do. not have to depend
_ altogether upon my .own words. and thoughts, as to the
theories I may hold concerning Governmental action. Gentle-
men, ‘it is the right of a British subject to hold any theory
_of government. that he desires, and even to promulgate
124 PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY
those theories, provided he does it without violence and ”
_without inciting to disaffection. It is possible for well known -
Republicans like H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw-to defend
their theories, as they do. It is my right and your right
_ to proclaim the virtues or denounce the shortcomings of
any particular form of government, providing it be done
in-a-manner-that-is not malicious. After all, when you take
. this case and pull it to pieces and expose it to the winds,
the real matter at issue is the intent or the maliciousness;
: that is all, as far as I can see, it amounts to—whether there
was a criminal intent or maliciousness.
I have wondered all along why they dragged in ‘the -
Communist Manifesto and pulled little pieces out of it. and ©
shouted about immorality. -Gentlemen, might they not have
gone into someone’s house and from the sitelves of his
library—take that fellow who had 500 books in his library
- —I am asking vou to suppose that amongst those 500 books,
they would take George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Super-
man.” Why not bring that into court? Why not deal with .
_ Shaw’s position on “woman,” read little extracts, and say,
Py “immorality.” “Would you like your children to read that?”
Gentlemen, if I were to tell you that I have read “Shaw’s
“Man and Superman,” and if I were to tell you that in my
“+ - house there was a copy of Shaw’s “Man and Superman,”.
you could believe or disbelieve me. And if I were to tell
you that since I came back to Winnipeg to stand upon my -
trial, I went down to the Walker Theatre and saw. a play
on those boards called Shaw’s “Arms and the Man,” you
could believe me or disbelieve me; and might suggest to you
‘that by the same process of reasoning that has been used
by the counsel for’the Crown, they could bring that play
in here; and they talk about Shaw’s lack of. patriotism.
. : (Court adjourned for fifteen minutes) "
We were discussing, gentlemen of. the jury, when, we
adjourned, the British subj ect’s right of holding any theory
of government that he so desires. As I look over the his-
tory of the British Constitution, I see where that constitu-
tion itself holds all the possibilities for any change in ‘its
structure. By virtue’ of that constitution, properly con-
sidered, you could constitutionally abolish that constitution.
IT hold these theories;—that i is my right and my privilege. If
there be any merit in‘¢$hem I contend that as.education goes .
amongst the people they will accept them. If there be no . .
‘merit in them, then the same people will reject them. - ;
~
t
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY + 128
.
Did you ever consider, gentlemen of the jury, that you
cannot kill ideas with a club? You cannot drive theories
into oblivion by machine guns. If an idea be healthy, if a.
theory be correct, drag it out into the open and let us look ©
at it. If it-be healthy, sunshine will help it to grow ;if it- be
not-healthy, sutishine will help to kill it. That is my- posi-
tion. I may be wrong, or I may be correct in’many of the |
views that I hold. It is to my benefit, if I am incorrect, to
have those things pointed out to me. If it can be demon-
strated to my satisfaction that I am incorrect, then it is
to my advantage to accept the conclusions thus brought to.
‘me. What-is the use of going through life in -a position
which is manifestly false, if it has been so demonstrated - —
to you? I wonder if I might give you the words of a legal =
gentleman in this country —— - £7
~ THE COURT: Not unless they are in. -We have enough.
- legal gentlemen here now.
; MR PRITCHARD: I think 30, My Lord. I was going
. to say! if his sentiments were the same as mine, and if my:
sentiments would be better presented in his words, I -would
. use his words. This is in the “Canadian Law Times,” from
the Manitoba Law Society. library.
- THE COURT: Is it in a case, or is it-a judgment, or is
it the opinion of a judge, or what is it?
~ MR. PRITCHARD: No, I think it is the opinion of-
this learned gentleman. ae
+ MR. ANDREWS: is it John 8. Ewart? :
THE COURT: You can’t use it merely because it is in
the “Law Times,” and in the library of the Manitoba: Law.
Society. There are very many. articles, even written by
learned judges, altogether aside from the point, and some-
times wholly mistaken. ;
MR. PRITCHARD: I° notice my learned friend, Mr.
Coyne, had.an article right alongside this one in the “Can- .
adian Law Times.” If I can’t use that — —
THE COURT: It is only the thin end of the wedge,
and then I have to be watching all the time; there. may- be
some lawyers come after you who might not be quite so
nice in following out my ruling:
- _. MR. PRITCHARD: There are a number of lawyers .
who have not been nice to me, My Lord. I suppose -it is --
only because they haven’t known me; as soon’ as they know
me they are all right with me.
. THE COURT: I have been very nice to you. I am
ena,
ae
~
-I_ were_to_allow_that_in, the lawyers_will say :-“That_is_all_
126 — . PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS. TO JURY:
telling you now you can’t do-that. By this.time you know
the reason. You will _just have to use your. native ability to
get it in.
MR. PRITCHARD:: That i is what I was using, My Lord,
I was trying to get it in.
THE COURT: You weren’t using your own ability. If
right, but if I tried a thing like that I would get—what was
it Russell said?— ;
“MR. PRITCHARD: On what occasion ?
THE COURT: A bright and shiny octasion which.
. always presents itself to my. mind.
MR. PRITCHARD: Then I must present this as my c
_ own.argument, gentlemen of the jury.- I will have to be
ov
a
Ne
careful. I put forward this argument: as my own, and
holding the theory of government, which I consider I am
entitled to do, I go:and tell youi in my own language.
_ The war has proven that the moderm form of popular
government does not fulfil the office *for which it was
eréated. You will remember during the war, gentlemen,
“how the administration of this country passed rapidly, and
to the ordinary’ mind. almost imperceptibly, but neverthe-
less rapidly from the members of Parliament themselves
into the hands of specially created Boards, whose business
it was to look after the various departments of the admin- -
istration. So that instead of a number of lawyers being in ..
the position of administering this department, and that
- department, and the other: department, experts, specialists
for the running of the administrative affairs of the country.
‘and technicians were appointed and formed into Boards,
The Railway War Board, and other Boards will come to your
’ attention a3 you think the matter over. Government by
Mr. Asquith was every whit as autocratic as government
by the German emperor; and the autonomy of the political
boss is no more wholesome than the autonomy of a monarch
by right divine:
’ Under the stress of war the party system has tempor-
rily, disappeared, in. Great Britain at all events. Party lead- .
ers
fave had to givé way to honest and competent adminis-
tration. The politician has been replaced by the expert. But
what when peace*returns? Is there to be a return to the
resources, corrupts and: despoils the peoples, enriches the
few at the-expense of the. many, ‘and in war threatens the ;
‘old system which in times of peace squanders the national . -
oa au
x}
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY - -— 127 ,
national existence with extinction, Although there may be
only a few individuals today holding these theories, gentle-
mien, still the question is, is it not their constitutional right
so to do? You might find a few, probably, subscribing: to
my- ideas, the ideas which I am now presenting to the best
of my ability, which revive memories of some-fifty years ago
-when-Edward;-Prince-of-Wales;-was-reported-to-have-stated——
that he never expected to succeed to: the throne, because by .
that time it would be put up for competitive examination.
That—quoting the words—“there should be but one avenue
to the public service, competitive examination in the ele-
ments of a sound and comprehensive géneral knowledge,”
‘the examining and inspecting bodies to-be formed from
the heads of universities. And as we look over the history |
of legislative bodies, and as we see the rapid change i in the
conventions of those bodies in recent times, is it too much
to say, gentlemen, although the words may be strong, that -
Parliament has sunk almost to the ‘position of a convenient
* audience?” aaa
. Thus, ‘for the last half century, this word “democracy”
has fallen from the tongues of all the political administrat- ©
ors like a sweet morsel, democracy has been the magic word
of beneficial creation, and autocracy, the word of anathema.
’ And this ‘maybe well, for human liberty cannot be too
highly “prized; and in the somewhat late-recognition of the
value and dignity of the individual lies the best hope: -for .
the future of the race.
But, gentlemen, here is my position, it is the institu-
tion, not the name. Remember Mr. Ivens saying, that ‘
rose by any. other name would smell as sweet.’ My name
‘is William, and'I can’t help it if Mr. Andrews says, the |
* Kaiser’s name is William, too. I don’t suppose I could ‘help ©
that. I don’t see that-there is any reason why I should be ~
hung with-him: You know, I must tell you this, it is the -
‘first time that I have-entered into-3 debate where the other .
_ fellow went first, I followed, and then he had a chance to
come after me and wind up. But I remember one time I had
a little bit of an argument with a person I mentioned to.
. you-the other day, William Wallace Bruce. ‘MeGinnis.- He”
- was a judge down there. oo
- THE COURT: -Is- he?
“MR.- PRITCHARD: He was. .He is- now a very poor
lawyer trying to make a living.’ ; ;
a
4
a)
128 - PRITCHARD’S ‘ADDRESS TO. JURY = Ba
THE COURT: We haven’t got very, much to do with:
. Billy McGinnis, thank the Lord. ©
MR. PRITCHARD: He might be a help in. this argue
_ men
THE c URT: “All Tight; use him.
ITCHARD?: I-don’t know whether to use him -
now or ait until this afternoon. But it is the institution,
not the name. There was an idea, gentlemen, in the matter
of telling the story, and it is ‘not the words—I am not con-
cerned about the words I use—I want-you to get the ideas.
’ Gladstone said: .“Words were often used to obscure ideas.”
It is the stock-in-trade, “the art ofthe politician to make’
“the simple complex and the plain obscure. I want-to use
“words to convey meanings, and if I deal with an institu-
: tion, I don’t worship: the name as a fetish, it is the institu-_ ,
tion" that: counts:-—~~ =
nts oe
His Lordship says I can tell you a story.’ Well, I re-
member seeing one of the cartoons of Captain Bairnsfather,
the originator “of -thos
from France,” and-here was Kaiser Bill of Potsdam sitting
_ up in bed, g very sick looking fellow, and “Old Bill,’ he: of
the “Bett&.’Ole,” seated at the end of ‘the bed, and he
was looking at Kaiser Bill, and he says: “All I can say is -
what a herrible méss you ‘have made of the name of Wil-
liam.” Name! Name! It is common knowledge-that McGin-
nis’ name is William, and it is generally known what kind
of a mess he made of it..
- Now, all this carries a lesson. I may be given a. name
humorous’ pictures, “Fragments
‘ by my mother, or Mr. Andrews—it is not the name that .
. counts, it is the man under the name.
- Jt is the institution and not the name which is hurtful
- to. human progress; the thing itself, the self-expression of
_ one at the expense of the many, call it by what name you’ ~
will, is that which is inimical to the people. In truth it may”
be that government by Mr. Asquith was every whit-as auto-
’ eratic as government by the German. Emperor; and the
autocracy of the political boss-is no more wholesome than
‘ the autocracy of a monarch by right divine. From a.super- -
ficial. glance one may be tempted to assume that the power
of the democratic autocrat is far less stable and assured.
’ But in reality this js not so. Bath the political boss arid
the monarch have certain limitations to their powers. Both
are subject to the same internal.restrictions, the power of
the people to revolt and the. inability of any ‘Govesnment
\ PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ~~ 129 -
to long resist the directed and concentrated wil} of the .
‘governed. ,
Then, too, with the modern. spirit of. individualism the
a ‘widely diffused consciousness of individual freedom and in- - .
. dividual. worth, and the right of everyone alike to’ life,
liberty_and the pursuit of happiness, no tyranny can be
’ by-the very conditions of its existence, maintain a certain’ a
very -grinding, no autocracy can press- very hardly and -
very obviously on the masses of any nation. On the other
had a modern popular movement can be exceedingly corrupt
and almost inconceivably ‘inefficient. So it comes about that,
while-an hereditary monarchy of the autocratic type must,
high level of efficiency, and has little or no temptation or
’ tendency to corruption, in so-called democratic countries,
__on the other hand the people are very often badly cheated
——and-almost-invariably—very—badly—served.
I go on with my argument—it does not necessarily fol- :
low :from a perception of these truths that democracy, as
a form of-society, is bound to perish, or that autocracy, as a
form of government, is likely to persist. But-on the other .,
hand. it has. become very obvious that” if those countries.
whose social construction is democratic are to continue to
. exist as national entities, it is becoming increasingly im-
perative.for them to adopt some different institutions of |
_governance than those embodied in. the party system.
So-called popular government’ has become as great.a .
“tyrant ag any autocracy. Indeed, in-some ways it is worse.
- The ultimate sum of its activities may be even more deadly
and ‘destructive than those of an absolutigt- ‘monarch, just
as the ravages of a-swarm of locusts is more harmful than
the occasional incursion of a larger beast of.prey.
The main point of. distinction lies in the fact that its”
depredations are usually spread over a larger area, arfd are
accomplished, as far as possible,.in secret; and also that
it relies more on corruption than on open violence. Its rav-
ages are ‘therefore more insidious because less noticeable.
No one can doubt that a democratic structure of society
* is most calculated to’secure the happiness of the vreatest
number. . Possibly most men will agree that a Socialistic —
structure of society is the ideal of human’ progress; the
persistent effort after social reform, which has been 80
’ characteristic of the last decade and a half, marks a dim
apprehension of this goal of human effort.. :
' I would like to continue with my argument, gentlemen,
toa:
180.2! - °WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
/
if you will bear. with me, Quite recent he evil I have
_been speaking. of has attairied alarming proportions. Popu-
“Jar government has altogether ceased to perform the func-
tions for which it’ was instituted. It has become merely a ~
means for the existence of politicians, for the enrichment of
the leaders of the dominant party and the livelihood of the
.rank.and file. In addition to the ordinary expenses of the
‘administration, the _nation—has—to—provide for “those who
%,
~”
’.. the votes of the electors must be combined, and this neces-... .
guide and those who ‘support the political parties.. Politics
has 'become a recognized means of earning.a living. Poli- «
ticlans have become a professional class. A new burden of
. taxation has been imposed on the people, the more danger-
ous, as it cannot be controlled; the more insidious, as itis
_unavowed. Large parts of the public revenue are secretly .
and fraudulently diverted to serve the needs‘of party poli- .
tics.- A whole host of parasites fatten on the public wealth. °
a This portentous phenomenon ‘has been brought about. _ .
bya skilful misuse of the representative system, and the’
regimentation and rigid control of the-parties. ‘The public”
-has become familiar with “machine” government without
_ paying much attention to all that is latent-.and implied in-
* the conception. The political machine, as it is called, that -
is the party organization, would be more aptly compared _
.to the nervous system of the animal body. It consists of a
. flexible network of agencies, ramifying into‘ all the struct-
ures of the social organism. The forces at its disposal are
bribery and persecution.: The elements of political power,
_ sary .work is- accomplished by the hierarchy . of political ,
agents by means of a system of rewards and punishments. °
__ All the levers of temporal interests by. which men’s activi- ©
‘ties -are largely determined are utilized’ by: the “‘ward-
- heelers” of modern political life. The sinister influence of
the politicians is brought to bear upon the mass of the
’ people through the means by which they earn their living.
The merchant's market, the tradesman’s custom, the-pro-
_ fessional man’s clientele, the parson’s congregation, are all ©
. influenced by the activities of the party. organization. «The
political boss has become. ubiquitous. ;-Men like G. B: Cox, -
. in Cincinnati, dominate whole.cities and districts and extend
. the ramifications of their powerful influence into the domain ——
Be national policy. Nations are governed in the interests of
particular classes, All this political organization, all these -
party activities, need copious supplies of money and those
_PRITOHARD'S. ADDRESS, TO JURY. we BL
ree,
-
r who’ pay the piper feel justified'i in ‘calling the tune. Every”
’ organ of public , life--becomes -corrupted. . The e_ newspapers 7
are bought or run to. advance-the interests” “Of particular
_groups of society; and this- species of corruption is perhaps
__ more dangerous than the. grosser.methods.of debauchment,
for material advantage is sought-under the guise. of the a
advocacy_of moral advancement. “The ‘world has become.
** familiar:with the “cocoa press”; immense campaigns have
been fought, in the pretended championship- -of temperance,
really. for the profit of the manufacturers ‘of non-alcoholic
‘liquor. The- ‘great evil springing from: this. venality - of the |
’ public press lies in the debasemenit of public opinion.’ The -
.." masses of the nations have become readers of newspapers, -
; and: are daily fed on lies. Thé unveracity of the daily paper.
‘is only equalled by its ignorance, its illiteracy, and its - .
impudent scurrility. It.fabricatés news which: may tend to’ -- 7
. the advantage of its masters, it suppresses everything which .
it dislikes, it-venomously attacks all those whom it fears or . -
a disapproves of. : Gentlemen, “I have met. coal, miners ‘from -
the face of the rock, ‘who could argue on points in philosophy .
_ --and. political ' economy ‘as. well as anybody I-ever: heard. .
' think, honestly. in my own ntind that some of. these scarred,
‘ plack-faced toilers from the depths of the “mines could, .
write better.editorials with their picks, possibly, thar the ..
editor of the “Free Press” ‘with his pen. Its: readers, .occu= .
pied with their own several cares-and concerns, have little -
inclination or means~-to “investigate. ‘the truth of what is -
read, and lose all possibility of forming a correct judgment - .
on the questions of the time. .- ;
: By these means a political party , is - built upon the | .
foundations. of the materia] interests of -certain .social ©
classes, ‘and affords scope for the criminal activities of the
' professional politician: All‘the. strings of ‘the organization:
are held in the hands of-a féw men who, by superior im-
- probity and craft, havé succeeded in dominating-the party: ~
si In the hands. of ‘these men rest the destinies of the coun- .
~Z"“tries. They exercise almost despotic power... ‘To attack them
~"\ameans usually to imperil the interests‘ of. the: ‘party... Over
- their followers they maintain their hold by a similar sys-
_tténr of rewards and punishments.’ The faithful are rewarded -
by” “employment for themselves and their. relatives in- the.
public: ‘service...
-£ Jf I put that forward as an indictment’ against the
present, system, -it is my constitutional privilege to do 90."
e
. 182 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS |
And if I hold that greater efficiency and greater pood- to
the greatest, number can be made ‘possible in the nation by
.. holding and advocating another system of government, it -.
is my cons tutional right to do so. This is true of. Britain,
and, in a sensé, it is true of other countries.
This party system is not bound by the English channel
. and the Irish sea. The Dominion of Canada has felt the
’ curse throughout its length and breadth. From the Atlantic
to the Pacific has rolled the tide of corruption, inefficiency,
waste and mismanagement whieh flows from the mimic™ ~~
strife for place and power. New Brunswick, Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, British—_Columbia,-have each added their
melancholy tale of political immorality, grosy dishonésty
and squandering of the public wealth. Nor does the Federal
arena display. any brighter scene; for, to. the ordinary
peculations of politicians has been added the new and attrac- *
* tive pursuit of making illicit profits out of the preparations
- for the war-
- 7 continue this argument. If anything had been want-
ing to make party politics stink in the nostrils of. all honest
men, ‘the conduct of Canada’s‘military business would as-
suredly have supplied the lack. The greedy crowd of. poli-
ticians and political adherents rushed to share the spoil,
- . like a cloud of noisomé flies fattening on a carcass. Every- -
thing that the soldier needed was sold to the Government,
at prices ranging from twice to two hundred times what
the article was worth; and not seldom the things which did.
reach the man in the field were useless and .even dangerous.
-- The binoculars cost the country anywhere from twice
to six times their real value, but they could be used,'and '
they were not actively dangerous. But what, of the boots
which were condemned by ninety odd regimental] boards of
inquiry, which were 'so well made and So well inspected that
.. “the men had to tie shingles and bits of board and pieces ‘
of bags across the bottom of their boots to keep their feet .
off the ground.” °
MR. ANDRE : There is no evidence of ‘all this.
There is evidence that the Canadian troops were,the best
provided for troops at the front. I do not think, in this court -
of Law, we are here to discuss supplies furnished, and criti- -
- cisms by the accused of the administration of the army.
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, I- was developing my
argument. It is my right to hold any theory of government .
er ananeninahthel lS
an a
ee
a
ones,
Sh,
I desire, and I can put forward’ a perfectly constitutional,
way, my views on any theofy of government. -
THE COURT: Is“it your views that the soldiers were
not provided with proper’ shoes?
~ MR. PRITCHARD: It was, My Lord, and it is. I was
showing that if this inefficiency occurs because of the
character of the administrative machinery, then I can put-,
- forward my own theories as a. means for amore efficient -
“administration for the benefit of the people of this country.
MR. ANDREWS: The accused was stating these things
as_if they were facts. They are not i in evidence, and not in |
an
",
issue,
THE COURT: T have already told the jury that they
cannot consider these hypothetical arguments put forward,
as tnaking any facts or evidence. “If. the.moon is green
cheese.” If the sun is just a mut or two away from this
’ earth, and if this and if that... They should pay no atten-
tion to those hypothetical. matters. But I am somewhat ”
interested in Mr. Pritchard’s view that our soldiers had no
shoes, and thereby the Government ought to be interned.
I am somewhat interested in that.,.Go on, Mr. Pritchard.
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, doT then understand that “~
supposing it to be common knowledge, from our understand-
ing of the term, that there have been appointed in this
-country commission after commission to look into these
. very things, that I cannot refer to them,, and mention it to
the jury?
THE COURTENo, you: may be able to present your
side of the facts, but you are coming up against what I
teld you when you came to address the jury; you must keep
to the facts that are in’and not go afield.
. MR. PRITCHARD: I watched my learned friend, Mr."
Andrews, very carefully, and let him run along, and I
thought I might be allowed to travel in somewhat the same -
direction. However, I will have to pass that.
| THE COURT: Mr. Andrews was not giving evidence.
. Ihave freq ently told him and you, too, that when counsel‘
/ was going ‘too far afield the jury were to pay no attention
. to him. There are a lot of things you say are common
_ knowledge that do not seem to be known to me at all. How-
ever, as to whether the soldiers were well shod or badly
shad is not material to the issue. There is nothing there
that will justify. sedition. If the jury, arrives at a view of
_ sedition which will be contrary to your interests, you can-
134 " WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
not show that bécause the soldiers were not well shod you
had-a justification. The whole thing will turn on whether -~
what.was said was or was not seditious.. ' ;
MR. PRITCHARD: My Lord, that is not my argument;
and if that.is to be made-my argument I will refuse to pro-
ceed with. it. -
-- HE COURT: Then I wish you would not. go into
those things, because you may get into the position that
that might be taken from your arguments Goon. :
MR. PRITCHARD: Gentlemen-of the jury, we will pass -
on.. We come now to Resolution No. 4, at_the-Calgary—Con
———vention, pagé 45. This deals with the question of free speech
and free assembly. This is the original resolution:
“WHERAS certain scientific and religious literature has
been placed on the prohibited list, owing to regulations in-
posed under the War Measures Act of the Dominion of
_Canada;.AND.WHEREAS, the war has to all intents .and
purposes ceased, the armies being in process of demobilize- _
-, tion: THEREFORE, be it resolved that this Convention
» demand full freedom of speech, press, and assembly, and
advocate united action by organized labor to inforce these .
demands. And be it further resolved that this Convention .
demand the release of all political prisoners and the removal
’ of all disabilities and restrictions now upon working.class *~
organizations, and that we favor united action by organized
‘ labor to inforce these demands.” -
- They took the position, just as the workers in Britain,
. -took, the’ position that oftentimes -it is necessary to speak:
’ in-no uncertain way.
: The amended resolution reads as follows: “WHEREAS,
a. general censorship has been instituted against freedom
of speéch, press and assembly ; BE IT RESOLVED, that this ©
Convention démand full ‘freedom of speech, press and as-
sembly, and demand -the release of all political.prisoners,
and the removal of all disabilities and restrictions now,
upon the working class organizations, and that a referendum
’ asking for a genéral strike bé taken on. these questions, to
become- effective June 1st.”
“There is-a resolution very similar in ‘character to one
of the resolutions, passed at the Walker Theatre meeting on
December 22nd, 1918. The Crown .do not contend I- was
‘there. I read that article this morning from the Glasgow
- “Forward,” on “Dictatorship.” And this argument appear:
ed to me, as I was reading it,-that if these. résolutions, even
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY 185
though they ‘were strong i in language, are to be considered
pernicious here in ‘Winnipeg, and the same resolution over
in Glasgow is not—if that is so, we have a-real protest
against the continuation of governmentby Order-in-Council,
~ . and I want to tell you that I was fairly strongly in favor '
of the passage. of the resolution, as you will have noticed,
I seconded its adoption. -
.Now, gentlemen, ‘exith the permission ‘of His Lordship, .
T want t to call your “atténtion ; ‘briefly to the War Measures -.
ct.
THE COURT? ‘The Statutes-you-may-always: ~refer_ to:
The Statutes prove themselves.
"MR PRITCHARD: Dealing with the War Measures
_Act-I want you to get in your minds what it was we were
-protesting against. Shortly after Canada became engaged .
in the recent European war there was passed through-Par-
Hament an Act known as the War Measures Act, 1914,
- Chapter 2 of 5 George V, and entitled: “An Act to confer .
certain powers upon the Governor-in-Council and to amend
the Immigration Act.”
Section 6-of this Act is the section defining the special
powers given thereby to the Governor-in-Council, which you
will notice made the Governor-in-Council - practically an
autocrat, over all the matters mentioned in this section. I
want you to follow me and see the amount of power placed
in the hands of an individual, because we must come to that
censorship and the powers of the censor. I may be wrong, -
gentlemen, but I have always held, since I came to years of
understanding, that ‘under. the British Constitution, legisla-
tive power could not be delegated. I may be wrong in that,
- and-if I am, well, it is not ‘too late i in the day for me to be
put right.
Section 6 of the War Measures Act says: “The’ Gov. :
ernor-in-Council shall have power to do and authorize such
, acts arid things, and to make from time to time such orders
and regulations. as he may by reason of the existence of
real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection deem
necessary or advisable for the security, defense, peace,
‘order and welfare of Canada; and for greater certainty, but
i
~
Me
not so as to restrict the generality of the foregoing terms, - - ,
it is hereby declared that the powers of the Governor-in-
- Council shall-extend to all matters coming. within the’ classes ;
of subjects hereinafter enumerated, that is to say:
“(a) Censorship and the control and suppression of ©
“og
136 ". WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
publications, writings, maps, plans, photographs, communi-
cations and means of communications. — .
“(b) Arrest, detention, exclusion and deportation;
“(c) Control of the harbors, ports and territorial
waters of Canada and the movement of vessels.
- “(q@) Transportation by land, air, or water and the’
control of the transport of persons and things;
“(e) Trading, exportation, importation, production
and manufacture;
“(f)- Appropriation,_control,_forfeiture—and—disposi=——~
tion of property-and of the use thereof. .
“(2) All orders and regulations made under this sec-
tion shall have the force of-Law, and shall be enforced in
such manner and by such courts, officers and authgritiesras
the Governor-in-Council may prescribe and may beé“varied,
extended or revoked by any subsequent order_or regulation ;
but if any order or regulation is varied, extended or reyveted,
neither the previous operation thereof nor anything duly .
done thereunder, shall be affected thereby, nor shall any
‘right, privilege, obligation or liability, acquired, accrued,
accruing or incurred thereunder be affected by such varia-'
’ tion; extension or revocation.” : .
. Now, section 5 declares that the state ‘of yrar. existed
from the 4th day of August, 1914, and shall be considered
. to exist until it pleases the Governor‘in-Council to say that
‘it exists no longer. So that, legaHy speaking; gentlemen— __
“de jure”—I understand we are still at war, and this sec-'
tion 5 reads as follows; -
‘Section 5. It-is hereby declared that war has con-
tinuously existed since the fourth day of August, 1914, and
_ Shall be deemed to exist until-the Governor-in-Council, by
proclamation published in the ‘Canada Gazette,’ declares
that it no longer exists; but any and all proceedings insti-
tuted 6 commenced by or under the authority of the Gov-
ernor-in-Council before the issues of such last mentioned
proclamation, the continuance of which he may authorize,
may be'carried on and. concluded as if the said proclamation
had not been issued.” ,
Section 3 states that: “The provisions of ‘Sections 6,
10, 11, and 18 of this Act shall only be in force during war, +
invasion, or insurrection, real or apprehended.” ;
Now, under the powers..vested in the Governor-in-
Council by this Act, hundreds, yes, I‘think I may say
thousands of Orders-in-Council were issued. It is totally
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ©. 187
. impossible for the man in the street to keep track of them
all. They were passed at Ottawa, and became the Law of the
land, and had the force and authority of Acts of Parlia-
. ment, ras far as the ordinary man was concerned,
Here is the pith and substance of my argumierit. ata
man had plenty of money ‘and could afford to employ emin-
ent legal counsel, he could probably-put up a fight against
some of these Orders-in-Council, so as to -test their con-
stitutionality. That is a luxury that the ordinary working
man cannot afford. And that ordinary working man.avent
~~ to-gaol; by-the-scores; by-the -virtue.of what I consider these
. arbitrary orders.
: In the matter of banned literature, ““Prapments from
Science,” by Tyndals“First-Principles of Sociology,” by
Herbert Spencer; ‘ “Theory of Banking,” by Howe; “Ancient
Society,” by Professor L. H. Morgan:
THE COURT: Are -these Exhibits?
MR. PRITCHARD: They are all mentioned in Exhibits.
They are covered by a blanket Order-in-Council, put in here
as an Exhibit by the Crown, the one I argued against—you
remember the Order-in-Council which reads: “A post card
and other publications.”
It might be interesting to run through a ‘list of all
those books that are thereby banned from entry into Can-
ada. There has been only one man in America who has been -
recognized by the Universities of Europe as a real scientist,
Professor Lewis H. Morgan, author of epoch-making works
on ethnology, who lived for a quarter of a.century amongst
the Iroquois Indians, gathered all their customs and habits
and: presented them scientifically tothe world. Gentlemen,
I had to take that book off the shelves of my library be-
cause of the Order-in-Council passed at.Ottawa—the only
really comprehensive work on the science of ethnology in -
.the English language. I told you yesterday that. I-objected |
to that procedure, not because I. considered the censor had
acted-maliciously, but I could come to no, other condkigjon
than that-he had acted out of pure ignorancé®’. cana
* In the matter of banned literature, these. osders Hebe
published, as it were, over night, and -éven ‘beforermany
* lawyers in the country, were aware of# éthe ban—-Wwithout .
taking into consideration the ordinary | man—the ‘secret
.,.” police were raiding houses and stores belonging to anybody
whom they considered suspect, with general warrants te.
af
138 , ; _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS ©
search for banned literature. We have had a little recital of
such proceedings.
. Tam ‘going’ to argue, ‘gentlemen, that possibly while
engaged in war, under the then existing .conditions, such
_ things had to be tolerated, but you will remember, gentle-
~ men, I don’t know that it is in as evidence, but I think I
can tell. you this, that-the armistice was signed on. No-~
vember 11, 1918. My position is that Parliament, when pass-
ing this Act, at least it appears to me from the reading of
___it,_ intended that Section_3_should_terminate_the_autocratic_
powers of the Governor-in-Council upon the conclusion of
active hostilities, that is, providing Parliament gave the
matter any consideration ‘at all, and did not blindly vote for
the measure simply because it was a Government measure.
.Our Convention was held on March 18th, 14th, and 15th,
1919, just four months after the conclusion of hostilities, |
and these arrests were still going .on and the country still
being ruled by the Governor-in-Council under powers given
him ‘by this War Measures Act. Do you wonder, gentlemen,
* we were against the banning of literature necessary for
keeping the working class movement straight, clear, scien-
tific and orderly? Do you wonder that we protested against
those censorship regulations? And new censorship notices
covering more books and papers were being issued “every
_ day or so; no one seemed to-be safe. Protests seemed -to
_ have little effect, and the workers talked strike, as -Mr.
. Andrews gaid—they talked strike. Mr. Andrews urged that’
we should have waited until the next election, waited until
the crowd at Ottawa got ready to hold an election which, we
notice, they are staving off until 1923. :
Now, there is another thing about that Conv ntion.
‘. Remember how we brought out the fact that someone .dis-
covered what he called a “stool pigeon” or spy—lI think it
was on the second day of the Convention—up in the gallery. ;
If you read that report you will find that the chairman
asked visitors to go into the gallery on two occasions. | Why? |
Evidently because they were in the body of the hall, |mixed
in with the delegates, some of them.‘ You will notice’ some
-of these things put in here—“Delegate unrecognized ! “Déle-
gate unrecognized!” Well, what happened when they dis-
_covered this so-called police spy? It was a man by the name
‘* of Brute, whose name was Gosden, referred toasa former
I.W.W., now a police spy. Moved and seconded that-he-be
. requested to leave, What happened ‘to-the ie motion ?~The
\
~— . ; &
“PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY _ 19
motion was turned down and he was allowed to remain and
do all the spying that he wanted. .
' Matter is accumulating there on the afternoon of the
. first day, and while itdoes not appear inf the repons, yet you
can easily imagine some delegate getting up and asking
whether or not they can havea reporter, or where they could
get one. Evidently they couldn’t find one in Calgary. And
from the miners comes the suggestion that there is a court
stenographer down in Fernie by the name of Perry: “We ;
have used him; send for-him.”.And we sent down to the city .
~ of Fernie for a court reporter, a Government official, to:come——__
-into our Convention and report, if he could, word for word
what was uttered there. Of course, he didn’t get it word
for word, as you will find by reading the report. . ;
- _. This is what I want to next bring to your minds. In
the report, on page 27, “A Delegate Unrecognized,” this fel-
_ low says: “Mr. Chairman, if appears to me—I am quite in
agreement with the proposed committee—but- it seems to
me no sufficient consideration has been given to set the
machinery to forestall any action by the authorities t6
“can” that executive and put them in the jug. I would like .
the Chairman for the Committee to take into consideration
the advisability of making provisions for co-operation in “
the event of any of the Executive Committee being arrested ©
and placed in gaol. We know of all the processes by Orders- .
in-Council, whereby executives of revolutionary’ organiza-
tions can be outlawed, and we never know. when that process
is likely to be put in operation. -I think this is a point~
which should be well considered by thé ‘delegates present
this morning. If you are going to set-machinery in motion
for the organization, you must also make arrangements for
exigencies from a despotic Government.” Soong
- He just got up and stated his conviction while the dis-
cussion was on. And the counsel for the Crown brings this
‘one man’s opinion, stated on the floor of a convention,
against us—the opinion of one delegate to’ the Convention.
What happened to Kis opinion? He was allowed to express. °
it, and then it evaporated into thin air and no one took any
more notice of him.. ;
This resolution No. 4 dealt: also with the question of
“Political Prisoners,” and, if I remember corectly, this is .
one of the resolutions emphasised by counsel for the Crown —- -
as being somewhat similar to the one put forward in the
Walker Theatre meeting. . Now, the political prisoners re-
Te ee oe
$
f
>
. a ra ,
140 WINNIPEG STRISE TRIALS
a ne
ferred to, covered several kinds of men who’ were imprisoned’
entious objectors, and others who, for various reasons, had
“ under, the Military Service ‘Act, and were principally- consci- _
broken or were supposed to have broken the terms of this —
Act.- Gentlemen, I may hold strong opinions myself, and I
might disagree with an extremely religious man, like Ivens
—I am just using him for an illustration—but when it
comes to a matter of working class tactics in a movement,
E-may~fight-with him, but T think that I know enough to
respect his position and his opinions. I think so. And there
were many of these prisoners who formed strong religious.
conscientious objections—they looked upon the command,.
“Thou shalt not kill,” and took it literally, as though it
meant what it said. And there were others—you have, no
doubt, met some of those fellows—belonging to the Bible
Students, fine fellows; some of them disagreeing with
Pritchard, no doubt, yet many of them were man enough
to discuss things with Pritchard, and I hope Pritchard was
big enough man to discuss these things with them. They,
to my mind, seem to have got into their heads that the
maxim of Christian philosophy, which . reads “something
»
like this: “If thy enemy smite thee on the one cheek, turn _
unto him the other cheek also.”—I might disagree with
them, gentlemen, in their opinions on that point, but I re-
spect those opinions, if they were honestly conceived and
_” + honestly -presented—and another one: “If a man steal thy. ~
cloak, give him thy coat also.”—are real principles and think
they ought to be lived up to. You and I may conceive these
_ individuals as very curious men. Then there are others who
believe in what they call the “Brotherhood of Man,” and
they support a rather strange doctrine which had something
..to do with loving one another. Some of these men call them-
selves ‘Christian Socialists, some of them call themselves _.
out and out Christians, and-some call themselves Pacifists.
; Here was our position, gentlemen. The war being over, -
and there were plenty of problems to face, we considered
that no good purpose was being.served by holding these
men. in gaol. Possibly, if there were any effect upon them
' at all, by keeping them in gaol—remember my argument on
. the violent anarchist and the idealist. anarchist—the same .
scientific method as is used in the labor movement could be
used with those fellows—and all we could see that would be-
produced by keeping them in gaol was that if.they went
into gaol idealists—what We: call idealist anarchists—
ee
. ——o
ee ee
_— eee
ae . ’. PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ; 141
T might consider those who hold the maxim, “rg aman n steal .
thy cloak, give him thy coat also,” an idealist anarchist—
and were kept in gaol after the war was ‘over, the only ©
thing that might be produced would be the turning of such
men into violent anarchists.
This brings me to another question—Russia—and the
the resolution we passed at this Convertion. Iam not going”
to bother my head with the resolutions passed in the
Walker Theatre mécting; it doesnot appear-to-be-within
my province at this time. I wasn’t there, and the Crown -
do not contend that I was there, consequently, it would be
no more to the point for me to deal with the resolutions .
passed at the Walker Theatre meeting than it would be for
me to deal with resolutions, we will say, that.might be
,passed in London. All those things can be dealt within.
their proper order. This I want to say: -Council for the /
Crown said: “Gentlemen, if you had no other evidence than |
the Walker Theatre meeting, we contend you have enough
evidence to ask for a conviction on seditious conspiracy.’
. Let me use that logic, gentlemen.
If we have punctured their armor plate at any one ©
point, then we contend that we have gained sufficient, by
that one point alone, to show you the nature of the case for _
the Crown, and we, ‘therefore, confidently stand before you
* and tell you that, as counsel for the Crown could ask for a
conviction on ‘the evidence of the Walker Theatre meeting
alone, then, upon the puncturing of their evidence on that -
. or another point, “just. as confidently, we can ask for an
acquittal. --°
THE COURT: We will adjourn until 2. 30.
.
Afternoon Session, 2.30 p.m., March 24th, 1920.
(Continuation of W. A. Pritchard’s Address to Jury). |
"My Lord and Gentlemen of the Jury: -
_ When we adjourned we had come to the question of
- Russia. As I had pointed out previously, greetings were
sent following the same act twelve months before by Presi-
dent Wilson.
’ The Crown do’ not ‘contend that anyone carrying on
their work in the labor movement in Canada received any
Bolshevik money, as it is known to the press, istill you:
must have noticed a peculiarly worded letter from that
’ prolific writer Berg. Writing to.someone, somewhere, he
%
4
Ne?
. wy
142 | | | -- WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
-secution. - ;
a
said—I might get the exact words, and while Mr. Lefeaux ‘
- is finding’ it, we will go on. He noticed.in the press that
they—referring to the other side—had used one of his let-
ters to Russell, in which he said he had just got a shipment -
of Bolshevik funds for this purpose. You will remember a .-
little argument about that by the Crown. In the letter he.
. asked Russell to come and address some railroad men. Ex--
hibit 513: “I just got in a shipment of Bolshevik funds for.
this_purpose.” Then,_in-the-other_letter,_referring-to-this,;,—
- he said — — We will have to leave that, gentlemen, until
“it is found: :
We passed the resolution in favor of the withdrawal of -
troops from Russia. It is quite true, as Mr. Andrews says,
' that the British Canadian boys were in Siberia, North Rus-
sid, possibly, around Archangel. That may all be admitted,
There is no evidence in this court, but I think it is suffi-
_eiently common knowledge for me to contend that there is -
no evidence, that war was ever declared upon Russia. I want
to deal with this at length, because this goes right down
to the very substance of this movement, and of this ~pro-
_ '. While they are trying to find those letters for -me, I
warit.to go back again to that Socialist Party of Canada,
and the part taken by someé of the members of that party
in. the attempt to obtain’and spread as accurate information
as could be gained regarding the happenings in Russia.
Counsel for the.Crown have laid much stress upon this
~ phase ofthe so-called .conspiracy, and have introduced
hundreds of Exhibits touching upon the matter, jn order,
they tell you, to convey to you something of the immensity ©
of this propaganda. They should be wished success at the
- task. For, if police agents are to be turned loose in every .
‘ city, and ‘in every part of the country, and homes raided,
it is not to be wondered at that they can bring these things
together, and then talk about the immensity of this pro-
paganda. ’ oo :
Their action leaves me no alternative, but to deal with
‘the matter as fully as I possibly can. It may be urged that
someone said we point to Russia. Well, perhaps we may
gain some lessons from Russia, just as we might gain some |
lessons, from studying the facts of-the Napoleonic or the |
Thirty, Years Wars. It may be. that students of history
today and statesmen might know more if they could bring _
‘themselves to the point-of taking the good as they find it in
%
ro". PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY. 43
everything. ‘Hold fast to that which is good.” So it is
this man Stephenson in one of these letters, purporting to. ~
-have been written by him to another man named Johnson,
says: “The reason why we put so much matter in.the ‘Red .
‘Flag’ is that.we want to stir up public feeling as much as°*
possible against intervention.” - os
They may have used that term “Reds”; it may have
been used against the old: Whigs, at the time of the fight
between the Whigs and the Tories. Crown counsel points - . -
out to you some publication like-this-and-says:—“You-see, *
gentlemen, there is a ‘Red flag’ on it.” In.this history of':,.
the case of Rex versus John Burns, in 1886, in which John *’ :
Burns was the accused,..it was shewn that he carried a red © *
flag at the head of a parade, a procession, a mob, or what-
ever other name you like-to give to that collection of people.
_ You will remember that my learned friend, Mr. Coyne, read
_ some little poem about “The Peoples’ Flag is Deepest. Red,”
read it more or less impressively, and I asked if he would
give me the name of the writer. He said-it didn’t matter,
thé namie of the writer, it was what it is and where it is
found. Am I really going out of the way if I were to tell
. you that right on the Exhibit the name‘of the writer would
be found, Jim Connel, author of “Socialism and Survival of
the Fittest.” literateur and’ writer for the old Social Demo-
’ eratic Party of Britain? Henry M. Hyndman, Belfort Bax, ,
+ William Morris and many others were members, and still.
are, as far as I know. Connel. wrote this little song, which
has been sung by the workers at all their gatherings for the
- Jast quarter of a century. That, too, gentlemen, brought in
c+.» here as evidence of a seditious conspiracy. If I were to ;
» + ghow you that that little sorig is the song that is sung atthe | -
_°. “~workers’ meetings, at their parades, not in this country,.
‘. at Jeast so far as I know, but in the Old Country, and that
not very long ago the workers in Glasgow. paraded to the
number of 110,000 through the streets, away down to Glas-
gow Green, arid there they had twenty platforms and twenty.
speakers going at one time, and the song was sung by the
whole body of. workers, you would know the history of that
. ‘little song. . : ,
+, As we pick out these terms, “Revolution,” “Reds,” we
_* ‘come to some of those little phrases of Russell, that ‘His
\. Lordship .and-myself .both.seem_to_agree upon, “packing.
‘with Reds”’—“Reds knocking hell out of the Labor Party,” -
and s0-on. an ‘ ’ Co
é
— , a’
«
, 144° WINNIPEG STRIKE ‘TRIALS:
; Russell, I may tell you, is a Scotchman, and I don't
think I am violating any confidence in telling you that his
language is ‘the language of the workshop. go
This is Exhibit 855. Stephenson writes to a man named .
. Fillmore, down in New Brunswick, and I am: going to-read
it right through to. show you the. nature of that letter:.
+. “Yours to-hand of February 25th. Many thanks for your
. account: of the conditions in the Maritime Provinces. We
* are more than pleased to hear that you think that the out-
_ ook favorable for the spread of our education. You enclose
a list of names, but do not specify what it is for, but-sus-
pect-it-is-of-those-who-desire the R. F. or they are ‘those
"who are to form the nucleus for a local. Regret that so far _
‘* as the R. F. is concerned, we cannot send it out, by mail, . -
but only in bundles of 25, by express.’ Hope you will have - /-
. success in starting a local in- Amherst. ° fA
“Re that young returned soldier Hobey.. He was around
here for a little while and left forthe Old Country some
time ago. While here he was admitted to the local. Ag we
run three educational classes a week..besides the regular .
. propaganda meetings, our test for admittance is not very
high, trusting to the influence of the classes and fAhe gen-.
eral environment to put young members.on a sound basis.
I had several-talks with Hobey‘and ‘although he thought
he knew something of Sotialisni;it struck me he’ ‘did-not and
that his mind was of such 4 calibre or in such a ‘state, prob-
ably the last better describes: it, as to precltide him ever -,.
understanding it. I should’ consider him rebellious. and also.
. fearfully fond of ‘hearing himself talk. Nothing worse, SO. -
far as I. know. Nevertheless .... Many thanks for the.
tip on Seymour. Will pass it‘on. I see jn the papers that
Cahan has resigned. He had a brainstorm when he first
- took over his job, but I suppose the novelty wore off-and-so
he lost interest, besides, the patriot sdys he can make more
money other ways. That leaves the’ country to go to the
dogs now. ill send you a few of the Open Letters under .
Separate cover.
“Regret to report that Kerr’ Fs literature is still on the ~
ban, but they write us that they have hopes of soon getting
it lifted. '
“On re-reading your letter/I now understand what the ,
list of names was for. At present we have no list that
would be any good, as it is/impossible:'to get some that
were on the old list. Howev r, I will have another list pre-
VJ
. va ; , aa _ “AS \.
/ * PRITCHARD’S/ADDRESS TO JURY =). 145s
’. /pared, though-we cannot guarantee to always fill orders, as__
y/ it is ‘very hard-to keép a full stock. -I am enclosing the
. -names of subscribers on our last mailing list ‘for. the
Maritime Provinces/ Our old mailing lists contained many’
more, but, for certain reasons, they were all destroyed.”
Even that was emphasised in the reading of it by the
Crown, as though it showed something very, very sinister.
- The Crown themselves have proven, by the introduction of
a certain Order-in-Council as an Exhibit, that the “Western
’ Clarion,” which*was the paper of the Socialist Party of -
___Canada,-had—been—placed—under~the= ban 1m September or
“October, in 1918—I am not, quite sure of the date—and-
this is the mailing list of names of that paper. They
were all destrbyed. Why? Because when the Order-in- |
Council has been passed and given forth;-and a paper is put
on the banned list, you must destroy everything in connec- . -
tion with that paper. That was the Law, and that is why it .
had. been done. -e ol, -
_.-Passing on to the bottom. of the letter,-I want you to |
take this in, as affecting that Socialist Party. “Formerly
we were dangerously near being a part of the working class
instead of being of them. In relation to this I believe devel- .
opments in the struggle in the British Isles are well worth ~:
watching, as providing ‘very «valuable lessons for us in this
country, as I think the conditions there which determine the
_activities of the revolutionary element .as more;nearly ap-—
proximating to the conditions here than those of Russia or ~
*+' Germany. Not that the advance of the proletariat in these
_ different countries will differ in its broad, general features
“over a period of time; but in the minor features of the day
to-day struggle.” i. , he .
; .“And if we are able to show you,’ said distinguished ~
| counsel for the Crown, ‘“‘that-these men in their every-day
. activities. were always pointing to Russia, always saying.
. look at Russia......” Well, this very-man_whom they have
apparently dragged in as one of the-arch-conspirators ‘in the
alleged conspiracy, writing.to some other man, Said: “TI ; -
believe the. developments in the struggle in the British |.
' Isles are well worth watching as providing very valuable “~
lessons for us in this country, as I think the conditions
there which determine the activities of the revolutionary
element as mere nearly approximating to the conditions .
here than-those of Russia or Germany.” co
. If the farmers, through the Non-papusan League, gain ©
ra
a
“ON
\
re
146 WINNIPEG STRIKE -TRIALS
control.of the legislative machinery in North Dakota and
’ establish State Banks, and the Farmers in Alberta, in Con-
“ vention, knowing that the farmers in North Dakota have
succeeded in obtaining: political, control, and the farmers .-
in Alberta send their fraternal greetings to the farmers of
. North Dakota, what does that mean? They might not know
all about the actions, policy and programme of the farmers
—— of North Dakota,-but they, recognize the farmers’ move-—_
ment, and they send greetings, just as the workers did.
, ’ I have found the letter I was talking about.' Exhibit --
518. This man Berg writes to: Russell and says: “I have ~
béen asked by some of the railroad men here if it is possible
- to bring you West to address a meeting of the railroad
organization”—evidently Russell was a member of 3 ‘rail-
road organization—“If you. can do this, let me know. The
Provincial Committee will stand all the expenses. I just
got ‘a shipment of Bolshevik funds for this purpose. One
Miners” Union sends $250, and tell me they will send more.”
The term “Bolshevik” there is used in a facetious sense, .
. the letter carrying on the face of it its own meaning. When
. I was speaking of prejudice, yesterday, gentlemen, I had
» sthis parti€ular thing in mind, part of the barricade that has
-been erected. around we men of the working class as we
’ stand here today on triol. I can understand that prejudice, |
and I do not hate anybody for it. ‘Neither do I contend
that the term prejudice carries with it the meaning of
‘ something malicious, but it -arises from being a total
stranger to the situation and the circumstances.
, This fellow Berg writes to Fhom—something, Prince
George, B.C., Exhibit 527, and he says: “Well, I see by
today’s paper that the powers that be have raided: the
offices in Vancouver, wonder who is next? I also notice that -
they got a letter that I wrote to Russell.in Winnipeg, where
I said to Russell that I had just gotten in some Bolsheviki
funds .(you know the saying, we are supposed.to have all
kinds of Bolsheviki moneys) and they printed this,.but they
were careful not to print the following sentence, which
would have explained the whole thing, as I stated that one-
. Miners’ Local just sent in $250.00 with the promise of more.
' to get speakers and literature in the field; a man does not |
even dare to think these days... .”° Gentlemen, if this man
away out there in Northern Alberta could read from the
press that they had given so garbled an account out to the
public at large, don’t you think that the rest of the people
suf
@
N
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY - 147 *
in Winnipeg, where we had to come on trial, would be, to
some extent influenced by that. If I were to tell you that
that letter did appear in the. newspapers in. Winnipeg,
garbled to that-extent. that a comma had been taken and
changed to a full stop, and that the qualifying portion of
a sentence had been entirely_obliterated,-what—would-you——_—-
yl
say concerning the fairness of the tactics used against us,
and if I were.to tell you, gentlemen, that the letter was put
‘into the newspapers in that fashion by a responsible min-
. ister of the Crown, what would you say to that?
T
COURT: Pay no attention to that, gentlemen of —.
the jury. He is trying to make you pelieve that a responsible .
minister of the Crown altered that letter; that is. giving ©
“evidence. : ‘
; MR:: PRITCHARD (continuing): I do not assume, *
gentlemen, that you fell down into that jury box like the \
manna came down to the children in the wilderness, or that
- you appear here in that virginal purity—I take you to be
, men of the world, who read the newspapers, and are able |
to use your own judgment upon this case.
THE COURT: And, gentlemen of the jury, I think I
told you more than once to put out of your minds all you~
have seen -it the newspapers. .I did this more for the pur-
‘-pose of assisting the accused than anybody else. You are.
to understand that you are fo put out of your. mind all that
ters you have seen-in the newspapers. You are not to’
assume that.a responsible minister of the Crown did wrong.
By this time Mr. Pritchard should know all that very
MR, PRITCHARD: I won’t argue that any furth r,
. My Lord. About closing time’ last night I was telling us
‘about ‘the leaflet issued by the Central Committee of the -
O, B. U., who were elected at this Convention at Calgary,”
and that the leaflet on the six-hour day, if it. appeared,
would contain the arguments in favor of that proposition.
Now, here in the One Big Union Bulletin, of Edmonton, -
April 4th, 1919, there is an article I drew to your attention
some time ago, on “The Spectre of Industrial Unionism,”
referred to in the letter by Berg, and in that letter we have.
a copy of a wire which he claims Midgley and I sent to him.
‘Well, in that same issue there appears what is evidently a
copy-of another leaflet, because it bears at the end, “Cen-
tral Executive Committee, 210 Labor Temple, Vancouver,
B.GC.,; and the heading of this is, “Tentative Outline of In-
dustrial Organization.” It has a “Foreword,” and I want
"“, 4 . . v
148 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS ;
,
-to go over it with you. These were leaflets that the Central
Committee were getting out for the purpose of sending to
the members of organized labor, so that they could discuss
the proposition and vote upon it intelligently. Then, gentle-
men, this itself would contain the idéas and the intentions_—
of-the-men-who-were instructed by that Convention to pro-
ceed with the production of the necessary literature. “Fore-
word.”
“The press is not abusing the Western Labor Confer:
ence and villifying the One Big Union because it has noth-
ing else to do.: It. is speaking on behalf of its masters, the
. employing class. It is pursuing its logical programme of
belittling any honest effort of the workers to ‘cease chasing
rainbows,’ and organize on a basis that alone will ensure
’ to them a-chance of meeting the masters in the industrial
field. It is now praising craft organizations (which in times
past it abused and condemned) because it realizes that
Craft Unionism cannot disturb its masters.”
oO Then the article, proper, follows: “Many questions, no. *
“ doubt, present themselves to the minds of the average mem-
bers of organized labor, who are honestly desirous of im-
proving their form of organization, ‘chief of which, we im-
agine, will be’—you will see, gentlemen, we raise imagin-
ary objections, we anticipate imaginary objections from. ©
_ our fellow-workers, and we try to meet those objections in
advance; the chief of. which, we imagine, will be: “How
-shall we go about the formation of the One Big Union? 2”
The article continues: “And many think that before they
can even vote upon'the question, that they must sever their .
connections with their present International Union. That +
is not so. Let us bring to your attention recommendations’
Nos. 5 and 6 of the Policy Committee of the Western Con-,
ference—‘‘see press for resolution or report—in Bulletin, of.
course—these will be given in full——W.A.P.”)—The crown-
have contended in certain cases that where they found the
initials “W.A.P.” it meant “W. A. Pritchard.”—I am going
to contend ‘the same in this instance.—"No 5, you will see,
shows that in promoting the new form of organization, we
shall work through existing bodies, and that -no definite
_ steps can be taken until we are assured by the vote of the
yank and file, that they desire Industrial Organization?’
Now, this is what I want to ‘make clear to you. /Af that
leaflet were gotten out separately, and if it were published
in ether newspapers, and.in order to save time copying Nos.
8
+
_PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY 149
ks of the Policy Committee’s. report at the
just made that “See press for resolution or
report—irmSulletin, of course—these -will be given in full.—
W.A.P.”), as instructions to the printer_to follow,-andif- he—
showed-_no-more-sense than fo print those instructions, what
would you think of that? I leave that with you.
No. 6, you will further observe, demands a further
conferénce of representatives of all Trades Councils and
District Boards, who shall perfect plans of organization
and, develop a definite line of action.
Those comments were printed on Nos. 5 and 6 without
‘giving the resolutions themselves, and as I cannot find.in
the Exhibits of the ‘Crown another copy of this “Tentative
Outline of Industrial Organization,” I have to turn to \the
Exhibit, the Official Report of the Convention, to see what
_. Clauses 5 and 6 mean in order“to make this article intellig-
ible. It looks to me that I didn’t say enough in that wire.
“No, 5. In the opinion of the. Committee, it will be |
necessary in establishing an industrial form of organization .
to work through, the existing Trades Councils and‘ District _
Boards, and no definite plan of organization ‘can be submit-
ted until after the referendum has been taken.” -
The conspiracy is hatched; the’ plan arranged; ‘then,
why a referendum to the rank and file?
So the article goes on: “No. 5, you will see shows that
in promoting.the new form of organization we shall work
through existing bodies,.and that ‘no definite steps can be
taken until we are assured’ by-the vote of the rank and file,
that they desire Industrial Organization.”
- Then counsel for the Crown says: “Look at these men
7 drunk with power; look at these men, self-appointed; self- .
constituted autocrats, dictators of the proletariat.” “Until
we are assured by the vote of the rank and file that they
desire industrial organization.”
Was it Glendower, in conversation with Hotspur, who
"said: “T can call the spirits from. the deep,” and his com-
anion said: “Aye, and so can I, and so can any man, but. -’
Wil they come when you call them? 2”.
They tell about us calling a strike. I can . call a strike.
Dick Johns can call a- strike, and he cdn shout himself
hoarse from the housetops, but they won’t come—you ¢an
call them if you like, but they won’t come without the rea- >
“sons for coming and the conditions for coming are there.
¢ ry + wer .
c
‘5,000 or less, one delegate; over 5,000, two delegates;-over
150 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
You recognize that. “Until we are assured by the rank and .
file that they desire that.”
SIXTH: The Committee further recommend that
_after the returns of the vote are received, the Central Com-
‘mittee shall call a Conference of representatives of Trades
Councils and District Boards to perfect the plans of organ-
ization-—Basis—of-representation, .affiliated membership of
10,000, three delegates.” :
The article goes on: “No. 6, ‘you will further observe,
demands a further Conference of representatives’ of all
Trades Councils and District Boards, who shall perfect
plans of organization and develop a definite line of action.
“The Central Executive Committee is but a temporary
body, elected to prepare propaganda and issue and receive
ballots on the referendum. We.cannot, therefore, take on
work to which we have not been committed, and concerning
which we have not been instructed...
“However, it appears that many opponents who know
. better, and other workers, who are honest, but do not know;
think that by Industrial Organization we shall throw the
workers together. promiscuotsly without regard for the
industry; bottle washers, boiler makers and musicians, for
instance. Such a contention is-ridiculous on the face of it.
Graft organization is according to craft; ie, painter,
‘plumber, sheet metal worker, etc. Industrial organization
must be according to industry; ie., shipbuilding, building .
trades, mining, transportation, public service (civic employ-
ees). These will be subdivided according to trades necessari-
ly, but will discuss together all common questions, and vote
and act on them together: .
“Do you see the difference?
“Instead of one trade acting, or coming out on strike
by itself, it will and can only act, together with other trades
of the same industry.” me
The article goes on—-I am reading it all to you, gentle-
men: “When we do write a Constitution for the new Indus-
trial Organization, it must be drafted upon the lines of
industry. as they at present exist, and to that extent work-
ers will be organized to their association in the product of
their joint labor, and not by the craft they follow. The craft
(the work of the skilled workman) is being wiped out by
the machine. : .
“Industrial Organization is an advance upon the old
' , “‘PRITOHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY" ~ Ab1
and now obsoléte ‘craft’ form, because ‘it places the workers ,
‘in a position whereby they can function effectively in de-
fense and for such concessions that market conditions will
ue
low.
- “One Big Union of workers would be impracticable
unless cast in the same mold as the _industrial-system—in——
—which-we-live-and work.
“If we are prepared, as members of the working class,
to recognize each other as comrades of one body, of one
class, then the next logical step is to so organize as to place
our forces in the same relation to employers as they are
to us.
” “Later we hope, if finances permit, to- publish a leaflet -
_.showing the reduced qverhead expenses of industrial organ-.
ization, as against the present “craft” form; i.e. that in-
dustrial organization is cheaper and more efficient for its .
members. This will be our next Bulletin. Look for it. Cen-
pa Executive Committee, 210 Labor Temple, Vancouver,
“Gentlemen, I am going to’ask you to assume if this
Bulletin could find its way into this sheet, would it be un-
reasonable to suppose that a later bulletin, ‘if finances would
aA.
.-permit coming out, would also find its way into this sheet. - .
_I have searched diligently through these Bulletins to find
the Bulletin in regard to the reduced overhead expenses -
and could not find “it.
‘There is an Exhibit here, No. 855, which is a: circular
" ‘Jetter, issued by A. 8S. Wells, Secretary-Treasurer | of the
. B.C, Federation of Labor, which seems to be addressed to
the members of the Executive of that body. “B.C. Federa-
tion of Labor, office of the Secretary, May 8th, 1919. Dear
Sir and Brother: Nothing very untoward has developed in
ithe last two weeks, since I last wrote you, the returns are
coming in fast now, and are overwhelmingly in favor of
the O. B. U. The Central Executive Committee met on
Thursday, and decided to issue a call for the Conference to
be held on June 4th. Personally I am inclined to think that
this’ organization should be represented at the conference,
and I would like your opinion on the matter.”—That is, this
organization, the B.C. Federation of Labor. That resolu-
tion No. 5, laid down the policy to “work through the .
existing Trades Councils and District Boards,” Wells evi-
dently taking objection to what was passed at the Conven-
tion; that he personally thinks that in addition to the
ol
. 1b2 _ > WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS .
Trades Councils and District Boards, this organization
should be represented at ‘the Conference. “I would like
your opinion on the matter. Every care must be taken at
the onset, or we may bring about chaos, and as the Feder-
ation took the first step, I think that we shauld have
representation. .
“Receiving a request for an organizer for ‘the Trail
District, President Kavanagh asked me to wire Bro. Phil-
lips for a man for this work, Bro. Phillips nominated Bro.
‘Potter, of Fernie, for the position, and he is now at work in..
the district. ~
; “Bro. Naylor may do some little work at Nanaimo in
.the near future; but it will depend 6n the circumstances,
“and he is now in the district on other matters, and will
. let us know as to conditions.
«J have on hand a number of the copies of the pro-.
_ ceedings ‘of the Convention, you can have some of these
if you so desire for distribution in your vicinity. .
_ “It is my intention to issue the call for the second half
year’s per capita tax on June Ist,-so that we can carry on
organizing work, and would like your opinion on the ques-
tion of submitting the amendments to the Constitution, in
view of the fact that the O. B. U. seems a certainty, should
we leave it until we see the outcome of the Conference in
ane. iL remain fraternally yours, Secretary-Treasurer, A.
ells.” - .
You see the method by Which we work.
Now, it has been contended -that my Brother Johns
was down somewhere in the East, doing something or
other, and from the evidence that we have: “here, it appears
Johns was in Montreal. during the period of the Winnipeg
strike. The question may be raised, that if Pritchard could
send a wire to Berg, about “The Spectre of Industrial..
Unionism,” wi ‘hy couldn’t he send a wire to Manitoba, since
they copied the same article? Gentlemen, you yourselves,
if your hands are full, working for your living, cannot see
everything; but, I think my bona fides were made clear
when I sent th at telegram—if I did send the telegram—
as soon as I discovered the kind of stuff those men were
putting in the paper. Johns, it is contended, is also a. mem-
2
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . 163 .
ber of the Central Executive Committee. “What do we
find him doing?” says counsel for the Crown. “He comes
back from Calgary, on the Central Committee of the One
Big Union; then we find him going down East agitating, .
stirring up trouble organizing for the O. B. U.”: There are
-Exhibits here to show.that—there—were—representatives
from every craft in the different railroad shops of Can-
' makers,. carmen, pipe fitters, and each would send their .
a
‘ada, negotiating with the War Board at Montreal.
i - + -
There is a difference between what is known as the
Running Trades and the Shopmen. You can easily under-
stand that. The Railway. Shopmen are the men who work
in the shops. They comprise the machinists, who, under
the old form of organization, belonged to the International
Association of Machinists, headquarters in Washington;
.Boilermakers, belonging to an International Union also,
headquarters.in Kansas City; Carmen,. Pipe Fitters ‘and
all those crafts you can find in railroad shops. The repre-
sentatives of these men were called together to carry on
- negotiations for a new schedule of.conditions of work and
wages before the Railway War Board in Montreal.
District 2 of the Machinists, covering all the machin-
ists on every railroad in Canada from Halifax to Victoria,
of which Russell, as you have seen, was the Secretary, would
send a man to the War Board. Then, just as the machin-
ists were organized for their own craft, so were the boiler-
representative down to the Railway War Board.
What did Percy, himself with some knowledge of rail-
road organization, say in respect to Johns being a represen-
tative of the War Board. “Q: Now, Mr. Johns,the accused,
tell us how mahy railroads he represented on that Com-
mittee?” Answer: That Committee represents every rail-
road in Canada, practically. Q: Was he on the Committee?
A: He was on the Committee. -Q: Representing every rail-
road in Canada, Government and otherwise? A: Yes. Q:
Fifteen in all, was it not? A: Fifteen, I believe, is the num-
_ ber.” 9 .
And from Mr. Perey you get this enlightening testi-
mony, that Johns would have to be an employee before he.
could represent those men down there. Counsel for the
Crown have shewn that Johns was a member of Local 122,
~
aN.
\
¢
if
i)
154 : WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS . .
ae
; Intemational Association of Machinists. What was Local ~
122 of Machinists? Machinists working in the C. P. R,
shops in Winnipeg. So that I am going to ask you to.as-
sume that when J ohns, elected by the votes of his fellow
* machinists of District 2, went down to Montreal to repre-
sent—them,that_he was. at_that_time-an-employee_of_the
C. -P. R. shops, and that is what he was doing down in
Montreal. And if he wrote to some other person about mat-
. ters respecting Sir Charles Temple, Chairman of the Board,
then he was talking of the. business that they had before ~
them in those negotiations down on that Committee. One
of the letters is Exhibit 349, and says» “We met the War
Board this afternoon, Sir Charles Temple is the Chairman.”
Telegrams from other men—who apparently were on that
War Board—and negotiations for the railroad shops, sent
to Russell, have been dragged in here as evidence, when
they show on the face of them that they refer directly. to
the business of the railroad employees.
; Something has been made out of ‘the fact that a fellow
named Dickie, who was down there too, sent a letter stat-
ing that Russell was Chairman of the Soviet in Winnipeg.
Is that what it did say? ‘You know, we fellows can have a
joke with one another now and again. What did the letter
say: “I see by the press,”—that puts an entitely different
light on it—“that you are Chairman of the Local Soviet in
Winnipeg. More power to your elbow.” Why “by the
press’? We seem to be getting into agreement here in this
court as to the things we can see and cannot see, sometimes,
by the press.
.. On the matter of intervention in Russia. I am going. to
read to-you this from the “Red Flag,” of January 18th,
1919,, Exhibit 9, put in by the Crown. This is a‘short
article taken from the “Manchester Guardian.” This comes
home to me.a little. That is a- paper in the Old Country,
standing out above every other provincial newspaper, at
least, in the opinion of the vast bulk of Manchester people,
who look upon that paper as:an institution, . just as they:
look upon the Town Hall; or Ryland’s Library. “Manchester
Guardian,’ of Nov. 27, 1918. I want you to notice that date,
gentlemen, because the Walker Theatre meeting, which
seems to be really the starting point for the weaving of
this crazy-quilt bythe learned and distinguished gentlemen ©
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY _- 155
for the Crown, was held on December 22nd, 1918. “What
was said at the Walker Theatre meeting on December 22nd, ,
1918, and the resolutions passed there, gentlemen—if this
‘ig all that we had,” says the Crown, “we contend it is
enough to prove a seditious. intent.’” December 22nd, 1918,
and.a month before that, November-27,-1918, this “ig what
“
tions may have been—we are not educated in the Law, nor
“the Manchester Gu ugrdian, edited for a number of years by -
Charles Prestwich Stott, had-to say about the Russian situ-
- ation. “What of Russia,” is the heading, and the article .
proceeds: “‘The New Republic,’ that admirable American
weekly, mentions incidentally one of those pieces of news
. thought by our censors too strong for the English stomach.”
I want you to realize the strength of this language.
Then. I want to contend, gentlemen, that strong as any
language we might have ‘used jn our working class resolu-
the niceties of diction—it pales into utter. insignificance
alongside the gtrength of the language of. this editorial from
the “‘Manchegter Guardian.”
‘Mr. Hafa, the new J apanese Premier, declared we are
told that all Japan wants in- Russia is the exclusion of Ger-
man influence, and a- responsible, - Government, ‘whether
‘ ‘Bolshevik or otherwise.’ That can be called a policy, the
policy of leaving it to the Russians to choose their own
Government. Have the Western Allies a Russian policy, or
at least a policy that they. dare avow as frankly as Japan
declares hers? _We know what is. happening under their
wing. British soldiers who were enlisted to save the world
from Prussianism find themselves, after the war: against
Prussianism has ended victoriously, killing and being killed
by Russian peasants and Russian workmen in a cause and
for a purpose that has never been explained.”-—“Manchester
Guardian,” remember—‘Fresh drafts, it is stated, are even
now being sent out. But this we hesitate to believe. With
Germany the Allies have made an armistice. To the Bolshe-
vik request for an armistice they do not so much as deign
to give an answer. The slaughter of Russians must go on.
Why? The original pretext for waging war on the Bolshe-
viks was to prevent the Germans from overrunning Russia.
That danger is over. Now, if one is to judge from the state-
ments.of British Ministers, the pretext is that we do not
like Bolshevik political manners and morals. Ministers who
"y ° ’ -
ne
156 _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
rest upon evidence like the notorious forged anti-Bolshevik
documents are not the most reliable judges.”, Tam going to
contend, gentlemen, that if the “Manchester Guardian”
would. state that there were such things as “notorious forg-
“ed anti-Bolshevik documents,” that-at least the words bear
some weight. “‘Assuredly the Bolsheviks have sinned, but:
—they-are-certainly-not-as-black-as—they- have-been-painted,
and when.the truth is published it will be. found that the
Allies are not free from sin against. the Bolsheviks. But
even if the Bolsheviks were as bad as our ‘Ministers say
they are,-does that justify sending our English lads to kill:
.and be killed by them? What Government could be worse
than that of the Tzar? -Did we send armies to overthrow
_-it?) We made an alliance with it and over 30,000 English
“Jads died at Gallipoli so that it might rule in Constanti-
nople. But if we are not at war with the Bolsheviki to
defeat the Germans, ‘and if we are not at war with them .
’ because they are bad men, why are we at war with them?
Is it because they are Socialists? The Government. has it-
self to blame if, in default of any intelligible and convincing
reason being given, that conclusion is drawn. It is all the
more natural to draw it as the latest Government set’ up in
Siberia under the Allied wing is a reactionary dictatorship -
so unqualified that it'claps into gaol even Socialists who
have been foremost in fighting the Bolsheviks.”
Gentlemen, if a speech at the Walker Theatre meeting
had been given word for word, as I have read the editorial
from the Manchester Guar dian, what would the Crown have
said? And if the Walker Theatre meeting’ had‘ been held,
not on December 22nd, but on November 27th, sixteen days
: only after the signing ‘of the armistice, under ‘those circum-
stances, what would they have said?
Counsel for the Crown said: “And the boys were com--
ing back home, and this was. the kind of stuff being given
off in the Walker Theatre, asking for the troops to be re- .
turned from Russid* ‘December 22nd, 1918.” With all due
respect, gentlemen, ‘the: boys coming back into Canada, as
far as numbers were concerned, could not be compared to ~
the number of- boys who were coming back into that north-
ern industrid] portion of Britain. And if the speakers: in
the Walker Theatre had an audience of 1,700, the ““Manches-
ter Guardian,” -a month previously, had - an audience. of
. several hundred thousand, and.it used words and arguments:
_ g . , . 7 .
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . 157
stronger than anything that was used in the Walker The-
_atre meeting. If there were the sinister intent and dangers:
that the Crown claims in connection with the Walker The: -
atre meeting, considering all its circumstances, then how
much more and to a how much greater extent must there
have been danger in the Northern—portion-of-Britain 4s a
result of the editorial in the “Manchestex Guardian”? I
-am going to ask-you the question: Do you come to the
‘ conclusion that this was.pernicious and seditious in the
meeting on December 22nd, 1918, in Winnipeg, but that it
was all right,'and possibly the height of good statesmen-
ship to mdke the same protest into an editorial a month
earlier in one of the leading journals of Great Britain?
This is Exhibit 482, “Red Flag,” February 1st, 1919,
and again we have the “Manchester Guardian” commenting
on “Intervention in Russia.” “Up until now the Allies would
seem to have taken ‘the line that they do not care what .
Russian: rules in Siberia, provided that ‘he is sufficiently
reactionary and sufficiently _ -vehement against the Bolshe-
viki. They must by now have learned that the Kind of gentry .
whom they are feeding with their money and with English
‘blood’ are not the stuff of which conquerors of the Bolshe--. ~~
viki are made. The Kolchaks and Semenoffs are fighting
not for Russia, still less for the Allies; they are fighting for -
their own hands, and they will.go on fighting so long as_
’ they get Allied money and Allied blood to help them: Even
now drafts of British troops are ordered out to Siberia to
fight the battles of the Kolchaks and Semenoffs. If the
British Government does not. stap this disgraceful adven-
ture. of its-own accord it will find it will’ soon be. stopped
for it.” 6 .
Gentlemen, never at any-time as the eviderice for the
Crown has been trotted out, can you find language dealing
with the intervention in Rugsia as strong as that language.
I want to develop these things.
In the same paper, February Ist, 1919, there is an
article, “Is It True?” “ “The Nation,’ of New York, is the ©
oldest, ablest’ and most influential political weekly ‘journal
in the United States. It is owned and edited by Oswald
‘Garrison Villard. Some time ago Mr. ; Villard; in the public
Interest, addressed certain inquiries, printed- below, to the
Secretary of S$ ate, and invited a reply. Receiving 1 none,
Do
158 . WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
Mr. Villard prints. them in ‘The’ Nation, of November 16th,
and again invites an answer. They will go to the heart of
the Russian situation and the public will await with eager- |
ness:the answer of Secretary Lansing.” Just bear with me,
gentlemen, while ‘I go through ‘this article. Here. are the
——questions_submitted:
°
“Ts it true that the administration knew, at the time-of
the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, that the Soviet Government,
represented by Lenine and Trotsky, was opposed to the
*.projected treaty, and looked forward. to -signing it only
because:of?the physical impossibility of resisting the Ger-
_man~ demands, unless. the Ales, or some of them, came to
its aid?
“Tg it true “ynat Lenine and Trotsky, a week or more
‘previous. to the signing of the treaty, handed Raymond
Robbing, at that time a representative in Russia of the
a ‘American’ Red Cross’”—you will remember me pointing that
‘out -whén dealing with that little pamphlet by Albert Rhys
* Williams, - “The “Bolsheviks and the Soviets,” as to who
Raymond Robbins was, head of the American Red Cross in
Russia, after Col. W. B. Thompson had resigned from: that
‘position—‘“a communication to President Wilson declaring .
their opposition to the treaty, and stating that they would
’ refuse to sign it if the United States would assure them
' of its moral support in breaking off the negotiations and
would send to Russia food and arms?
“Ts it true that at least two copies of the communica-
\ tion were at once cabled to Washington, one-of them to the.
. ‘Department ‘of State, through diplomatie officials of the ~
, United States in ‘Russia? - -
\ “Ts it true that the communication was duly received .
. by\ the: Department of State and came under the eye of
Secretary Lansing?
“Tg it true that the communication was not laid before -
’ Mr. Wilson at the time, but that Mr. Wilson was ignorant
’ of -its existence until after his decision to intervene in
Russia had been arrived at and announced?
“Is it true that Mr. Robins, who. is alleged to have
“been instrumental in securing the communication from -'
Lerine and Trotsky, and having it cabled through diplo-
matic channels, spent several weeks in Washington upon
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY _ 159
his return vainly trying to secure an audience with Mr.
Wilson ;.and that in the meantime he was given to under- ~
stand by the American Red Cross and the. Department of
State that he was not to make any public statement upon
the’ subject? ;
“Ts-it-true-that the: former RussianAmbassador= Mis
- Bakhmetieff, although no longer. the legal diplomatic repre-
sentative of any existing Government in Russia, neverthe-. ~
_ less continues to be recognized officially by the Department
of State as the Russian Ambassador; that Russian citizens
now in this country, having business "with the Government,
_ have been informed in writing by. the Department of State
that their communications must-be transmitted through Mr.
Bakhmetieff as Russian Ambassador; and that Russian’
citizens in this country, who desired exemptiorvi from the
draft ha have been required to have thein applications approved
y him?
“Is it true that the locomotives, tats, and other rail-
o
way material purchased or contracted for on account of the: -
Russian Government by: Prof. George V: Lomonossoff, and
- legally in his custody at the time when he was removed -
from office.as head of the Russian Railway Mission by Mr. -
Bakhmetieff and his papers seized by agents of the Depart- —
ment of Justice, have in part been sold, with the knowledge
of the Government, and the proceeds applied to the pay-
ment of interest on Russian bonds or for other alleged °
public purposes, and in part used in‘aid ‘of Allied military
operations in France or elsewhere?” —
And the article closes: “Is it true that Mr. ‘Bakhmetieff,
: acting as Russian Ambassador, is at this time carrying on in - :
the United States, through the Russian Information Bureau,
"-or paid lectures, or other means, a systematic propaganda
- designed to discredit the Soviet Government and to encour-
“—xsage public sentiment in favor of the continuance of inter-
; vention in. Russia’ and that- what is being done in this
- direction is known to the Department of State or to Mr.
Wilson ?”.
Then you will remember, gentlemen, that strong edi-
- torial that I read from‘the Manchester Guardian, which
‘opened “That admirable American. weekly, the ‘New Re-
public.’” All I want to-do is to show that on: the front
a
-
- “Yeo ce - WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
, page of Exhibt, 874, “Red Flag,” February 8th;-1919, there
is -an- ‘article,: °
Republic.”
«
Theit again in-this_-same Exhibit 874; there is a short. _~
excerpt from’ the same paper I mentioned this morning, the
- “Glasgow Forward,” of Saturday, November 28rd, .1919.
_ “Our opponents are overjoyed at a story, in their press
quoting, from the, Moscow. ‘Izvestio;’ the | ‘official Soviet
organ,’ of a free love decree for Bolshies. ‘There ye are!’
‘What did we'tell ye.’ etc. But the “London.Call,” 14-11-
18, has got the facts. The decree was no.decree at all. It
- Moscow Shyiet. All‘that had happened ;was that jn the
. early part o& this year a writer in a small paper in the Ural
. Mountains: had an article advocating some kind of sexual
. communism. Maxim Gorki drew attention to it—he-was -
“opposing the Bolsheviks at that time—and doubtless
thought it was.a good stick with which to beat Lenin’s back.
Nothing farther was heard of the article until-it blossomed |
out the other day in our capitalist press ab a Bolshevik
was not Be in the ‘Izvestia,’ the official organ of the-
-- ‘decree.’ . . .
I come now to Exhibit 487, and I ask you to bear with.
me while I read-it to you in its éntirety. I will cut out as
. much as I can, if I do not consider, it, material to my argu-
‘ment. There you see the. heading, “Preface to An Open”
Letter to America,” by Arthur Ransome, Correspondent in
Russia for the ‘‘London Daily News.”
"I don’t know if I am going outside of the bounds, if
‘ tell you that he wrote for the “New Republic.” Arthur
Ransome is the author of many beautiful stories, biographer
of Edgar Allan. Poe, and, at least in my opinion, no literary
man.in Britain would ever accuse Ransome of literary dis-
_honesty. No man of letters would ever question the in-. ~
tegrity of Ransome as far as literature is concerned. Here
is his preface to his “Open Letter”: .
nod Rey day brings a ship, ,
very ship brings ¢ a word,
‘ Well for those who Have no fe .
. Looking seaward -well assured .
.- That fae ward the vessel, brings
. As the wotd they wish to hear.”
onciliatiqn for, Russia,”: from the “New —
‘a
y
aan = witmersbn wrote: the poem. Sy have stolen for: -a . head-’
> piece to. this letter, and Emerson wrote the best commen-_
_ tary. on that poem: ‘Tf there is any. period one would: desire
to. bé.born in—is’ ‘it/not: the agé of revolution; -when ‘the _
old-“and the new stand: side By Side and admit-of being ¢ com=*
.- pared ; when the energies of al are: séarched by ‘fear -
“ _ and ‘by~hope; when the. heroic glories~of: the ‘old can be. |
; _**¢ompensated by the rich ‘possibilities of. the new era?. This _
7. time, like all times; is a very good one, if we bub now: what...
*fo-do-with it.” « . ao 2 cS
copyby. Ransome. “Let me.break here. This same ‘Emerson; Sée
“and writer, the great Philosopher, quoted. by all” the. pub-
". licists and politicians at election time, quoted in. the-halls :
_.of-the legislatures, what did Emerson say? “Speak. with..
oh ‘“wehemence what you consider to be the truth today, and-
. tomorrow speak what you consider to be the. truth -to=*
_ morrow, even though it contradict what you say today?
. “Perhaps some old woman will say, ‘You’ will be‘misun’
a « derstood. , ‘Mjsunderstood !. Misunderstood! . Misundérstoo
"Asa “right fool’s word. - Confucious was- misunderstood
Socrates was misunderstood; Jesus was misunderstood. TT
he. Sreat,, As to. be misunderstood. a os
e Ransome “Gontinues this _preface to his. Open “Ustter::
“Revolution divides men of character far more sharply: ‘than:
~they.are divided by war. Those whom the- gods' love:-take.
the youth of their h s and throw themselves - gladly.” on?
that: side,-even: if,’ c Tegented, they perceivethat “th
- fires : of - revolution will bin: up perhaps ‘the very. things
‘>that, for themselves, they hold? ‘ost’ dear: Those ‘others.
-wise, circumspect, foolish with the folly of ‘wisdom, Teffain,-
-:and are burned up noneithe less. ‘It is the same with-nations, .
.- “and-I'send this pamphJéet to America because -Ameérita’ gup--
ported the French:revoliition when Englandcondemned:it;"
; “and because now ‘also Améfiva ‘seems to 1 me to Took 3 towards ®
“Without the’ easy... cynicism. that" preparés ° “the: “di igaster at.
which. ‘it is ‘aftérwards. ready to smile=:-Not that: Ti think’ ‘all:
- this ‘is ‘due to: some’ special: virtue ‘in- ‘America. ne ‘have: ni
, doubt it. is. ‘die: to. ‘geographical ‘and= economic - -conditions::
-Anterica; “ig ‘further from this: cbloody:: cockpit: of’ ‘Europe,: sfor
=-Foranother,. even. -wich’-Americans dependentfo
N
: Le .
. 162", . WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
their fulfpockets on the continuance of the present capital-
ist system, can whole-heartedly admire the story of the
Bolshevik adventure, and even wish for its success, without Sy
fearing any serious damage to the edifice in which they .
___live. Or it _miay_be, that, knowing so _little_about_America,_
T,let myself think too well of it. Perhaps there, too, men
go about repeating easy lies, poisoning the wells of truth
” from simple laak of attention to the hygiene of the mind. --
*. I do not know. I-dnly know that, from the standpoint of
the Russian revolution, England seems to be a vast night- |
mare of blind. folly, separated from the: @ontinent, indeed -
“from the world; by the sea, and beyond that by the trenehes, .
an depriyed,tby: sonfé fairys godmother, who was not invited ,
tg hey christéhikg, of the imagination to realize what is
ening beyond.’ ‘Shouting in daily telegrams across the
wires from Russia I feel I am shouting at a drunken man
asleep in the. road in front of a steam-roller. And then
the newspapers of six weeks ago arrive, and I seem to ‘see . we
that drunk, sleeping fool making a motion as if to brush a _ :
fly\from his nose, and take no further notice of the mons-
«, trous thing bearing steadily towards him. I love the real
” England, but -I hate,.more than I hate anything..on earth -
‘(except.cowardice in looking at the truth) the intellectual
sloth, the gross mental indolence that prevents the English
’ from making an effort of imagination and realizing how
_ Shaméful will be their position in history when the story of
this last year in the biography of democracy comes to be
__. written. How shameful, and how foolish, for they will one
+ day be forced to-realize how appalling are the mistakes they +
. committed, even fromthe mere bestial standpoint of self- -.
interest and expediency. Shameful, foolish and tragic be- .\:
yond tears. For the toll will be paid in English blood. Eng- °- %
- lish lads will die and English lads have died, not one or two, -
’ but hundreds of thousands, because their elders -listen-to
men who think little things, and tell them little things, co,
which are so terribly easy to repeat. At least half our . m7
_. worst mistakes have been due to the underestimation of © - ~~
some person or force outside England, and disturbing to
little men who will not.realize that chaos has come again - ms
and that giants are-waking in the world. They look across +... ;
Europe and see huge things, monstrous figures, and to save. .
themselves, and from respect for other little lazy minds, ~ -
they leap for the easiest tawdry explanation, and say, ‘Ah, -’,
yes, bogies made in Germany with candles inside turnip — .~ -”
+
" PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY 168
heads! ? And having found bieir miserable little atheistical ©
explanation they din it into everybody, so that other people wal
‘shall make the same mistakes, and they have company in ~*~.
.folly and so be excused. And in the end it becomes difficult
—for—even—honest-minded, “sturdy folk in England to look - ©
_ those bogies squarely in their turnip faces and to see that
they are not bogies at all, but the real article, giants, whose
: movements in the mist are of, greater import for the future
7 of the world than anything élse that is happening today.”
a The article continues: “I think it possible that- the
revolution will: fail. If so, then its failure will not mean.
that it loses its importance. The French Revolution gave a °
- measure of freedom to eyery nation in Europe, although ~
it failed most notably in France and ended in a dictator
>. and a défeated dictator at that, and for the brave“clear- .
’-gighted France foreseen by Diderot and Rousseau substi-
tuted:a France in which thought died and every one was
'_free to grub money with a view to enslaving everybody else. €
-- The failure of the French Revolution did not lessen the
’ order which the ideas that sprang from it poured into the =|
_ minds that came.to their maturity between‘1795 and 1801. -.-°*
And perhaps it was that failure which sharpened the con-
flict of the first half of the nineteenth century, in which,
after all, many candles were lit and fiercely, successfully,
guarded in the windy night that followed the revolutionary —
sunset. Let the revolution fail. No matter if only in Amer.
- iea, in England,. in France, in Germany, men know what” iP
-“" . was that ‘failed, .and how it failed; who betrayed it, who
_ murdered it. Man does not live by his deeds so much as-by_ -
the’ purposes of his deeds. We have seen the fight-of the. © .+
young. eagles. Nothing can destroy that fact, even if, later
. in the day, the eagles drop to earth, one by one, with broken a
‘wings.
“Tt is hard here, with the tragedy 50 close’ at. hard, 80: ;
intimate, not to forget’ the immediate. practical purpose of- =~’
. my writing. It is this: To set down, as shortly as possible, ~
the story of the development of the’Soviet power_in Russia, *
to show what forces in Russia worked against that-:power oe
. # . and why; to explain what exactly the Soviet Government. - . -
is,and-how the end of the Soviet Government will mean the 2-2:
end of the revolution, whatever may be the apparent char- 7
_- °° acter of any form of Coverpment that succeeds it “Moscow, °
a May 14th, 1918.” _ mo
”
164 ». WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
*
- You remember, gentlemen, I read from the conclusion:
of that’ same “Open: Letter,” as it appeared in that little
‘pamphlet by Albert Rhys Williams, ‘‘The Bolsheviks and’
the Soviets’—Questions and answers which he prepared,
—" because_of the_questions_which_had _been_‘asked_him_after.
he had lectured in the Church of the Ascension, in New
York, and in Ford Hall.in Boston.
(Court adjourned for 15 minutes) :
4.30 p.m., March 24, 1920 : °
Gentlemen of the Jury: I have made those few argu- ~
ments on the question of intervention in Russia, and I am
going to skip from point to point aS rapidly as I can, without
reading at any length, except for the’ purpose of advancing
. the argunient that I give.
‘Here i in Exhibit 545 of the Crown’s, “Red Flag,” March
29th, you find’ an article, “Raymond Robins, on Soviet
Russia” —and here a clipping - from the Vancouver Daily
“Province,” of March 25th, 1919. ‘The heading reads,-“Urges -- |
: Recognition F Lenine’ Regime.”” “Recognition of the -
: Lenine-Trotzky Government by the United States and the
. Allies was urged ol. Raymond Robins, former head of .
*. the American \R€d Cross mission to Russia, in an address
before the League of: Free Nations’ Association. 7 .
. It might be urged (it was urged. by Crown counsel ‘on
“ one occasion) that Raymond Robins took an entirely diff-
- erent position to what this claims he did.. Well, taking this .
. despatch from one of the capitalist newspapers, we take it |:
- for what it is worth. ; =
" (Continuing) : A'sserting: that’ since -his retirement.
from the mission, he felt no longer the necessity of silence.” -.
' You will remember when I read that other stuff by Villard -.
in the New York “Nation”: “Is it ‘true that. Raymond -:
Robins had offered this and offered that; is it true that he °
had been asked\and in fact instructed | to keep silent ? ” ..
“The Vancouver “Daily: Province” continues: “Assert:
ing that since his retirement from.the mission, he felt no . -
‘ longer the necessity of silence, Col.. Robins” vigorously de-: - ”
‘fended the Bolshevik leaders and. criticised the: attitude of
\
a : . 1
~ ‘
}prrmomanp’s "ADDRESS TO JURY 165
the United States towards them. Col. Robins said he had
_ found the Soviets were the only force in Russia who could
' get ‘something done and done -expeditiously. Defending
Lenine and Trotsky, he said they would not have signéd the ___
~Brest-Litovsk treaty with Germany had their. overtures to.
the Allies been accepted.” A little admission like that out
- ofa capitalist newspaper might-help to go a. long way to’
answering “Is it true,’ etc.
. ‘Another piece. “Moscow and the Ukraine,” from the
“Manchester Guardian,” of March 6th. The same line of
argument. I am just. going to pass over it, gentlemen.
“The Blockade of ‘Russia,’ ” by M. Cachin, copied from
“L’Humanite,” labor newspaper of Paris, February 27th.
- An article‘on “Economics,” by some farmerout in Saskatch-
_ ewan. However, that doesn’t matter sO "fap as the present :
. argument. goes. 0
There! i is one . thing I have tried to make’clear, my posi- e- |
- tion asa member of a Trades Union, because I ama wage- ~. d
- worker, living by getting wages. I tried to make clear by a. &&
little analogy, how the farmers would have-dual organiza- S
tions—economic and political organizations—and the worker
. has his union, industrial organization, and may possibly have:
his politieal organization also. - .
QO In the “Red Flag,” of ‘April 6th, the organ of the Social: |
ist ,Party—the: party, who, says ‘the Crown, ‘supply the.
‘phrase, the “One Big*Union”;. who developed this great 7
conspiracy, and. Who. io-formed part of this conspiracy—there -
is\an, article on thé*“One*Big Union,” which commences on
the front. pagé,,-takes’ i ‘all of page 2, and goes down to
the last pages, It. deals with the history of the Labor Move- ~ -
ment\in the Old Country, the history of the Socialist Move-
ment and the purpose of the Socialist Movement, and ‘it_is
signed by “J. H:”" It may be contended by thé Crown that.
is “J. Harrington.” I am not going to read you all of that ~
argument, I am just going to bring’ you to the last sen-
_tence:. “The ‘One. Big. Union’. is.no task of ours.”’. ----+- sare
You are’ made to understand, gentlemen, that’ the One-. -
Big Union was some kind: of healthy baby- that belonged to" ~
_this organization. “The ‘One Big Union’ is no task of ours.’ ” ov
166 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
A
Now, to revert again to what was done in Calgary in
March by Trades Unionists. Here is a little despatch takén
from a newspaper somewhere s“Labor Demands that ‘Con-
chies’_be Liberated.” “London,—April- 8rd”—not—very—long
after the March Convention— ‘A resolution demanding the
' withdrawal of all British troops from Russia, the raising of
the blockade, the withdrawal of the Military Bill ‘from.
Parliament and the liberation of conscientious objectors was
’ adopted by acclamation today by the Trades Union Con- |
' gress. Robert Smillie, the leader of the miners, in moving
v,
‘
the resolution, declared the miners would strike for ‘the .
removal of conscription and the raising of, the blockade.”
Again the “Manchester Guardian,” March 20th,’ 1919, :
on “The Military, Situation in Russia,” .reprinted in “Red-
Flag,” April 12th.. Then, “Editor of the London ‘Times’
‘apologizes for slanders on Bolshevik regime.” A letter by
Joseph King. Funny how all these other people and persons
should be doing these things in other parts of the country,
and other parts of the world, around about March, 1919. .
“Six Red Months in Russia,” by Louise Bryant, corres-
’ pondent of the Bell Syndicate in Russia.
Then, “Trend of Opinion in Great Britain”: “The In-
dependent . Labor Party is -to have itssTwenty-Seventh
. Annual Convention, beginning April 20th, and to last three
days, at Huddersfield, York, England.. Below we reproduce
- a few of the resolitions to be submitted. These will indi-
-. eate to some extent the character of the ideas and trend
.of opinion of that element of the working class of Great
Britain which attaches itself to that conservative -body, ©
the I. L. P.’*-
~
Resolution No. 138, “Conscription, * a¢king for the. im-
‘mediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.
and conscientious objectors’ ’—the ‘date of this paper is
April. 12th,.1919. &
No. 41, ‘Allied Intervention in Russia ‘and Germany”:
“That this ‘Conference hereby register its emphatic protest
_ against the ‘undeclared’ war against Russia, and calls upon
the Government of Britain to withdraw the British, troops
. from Rugsia,” and so on. ‘
No. 42, “Demands the. immediate withdrawal of every
British soldier from Russian soil.”
~
he : —
PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY . 167 .
No. 48, “That, this Conference protests_against British
troops being sent to Russia, asks for the immediate with-
drawal,of those who are already there, and further asks for
the withdrawal of the press censorship_in_relation_to —the
affairs of Russia.” The Independent Labor Party Conven-
‘tion in Huddersfield, “York, April 20th. -
No. 52, “That this Conference reaffirm its belief in ‘the
need for a "reduction of the number of hours of labor, and
considers that a six-hour working day and a five-day week
should be established by statute. ” LLP. Convention, Hud- -
dersfield, York.
“Party Organization °and Recommendations and In-
structions to N.E.C.,” which I will contend, gentlemen,
means the. National Executive Committee—but it doesn’t
matter what it means, the resolution is what counts. “This
Conference, recognizing that the workers in their struggle
to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of capitalism
must use every weapon, calls upon the svorkers to perfect
their organizations ‘in order that-they may be better instru-
ments for thé final overthrow of capitalism’—strong words’
—LL.P. Convention in Huddersfield, York. If that had been
passed in the Walker Theatre on December 22nd, and put
out inthe papers, the Crown would have puta whole series
‘of blue marks around it. (Blue was the acknowledged mark-
ing of exhibits by the Crown). :
No. 89, “That the National Executive Committee be
"asked to enter. into negotiations with.the B.S.P. and the:
S.L.P., with a view to forming one United Socialist Party
of Great Britain.”
No. 49, “That this Conference protests against the re- =
peated appeals of the N.E.C. to the representatives of cap-
_italistic and imperialistic Governments; and is of the opinion
that the emancipation of the workers will be the work of the ' '
workers themselves, and that the time is now opportune for .
the N:E.C. to call a conférence of the workers to put into:
full operation the principles and aims of the Leeds Con-""
- ference.”
> LLP. Conference in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, ; mo
in April, 1919.
‘calling upon- a capitalistic Government to socialize the land,
’ . 3 .
~ . \ *
No. 99, ““That this Conference, realizing the futility-of
. 168 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
| coal<mines, mineral wealth, quarries, railways, and ships,
is of the opinion that the propaganda of the I.L.P. should-
be directed towards the absolute overthrow of the capital-
ist system.” . F
wh.
The workmen in Calgary passed a resolution that that ;
- conference takes as its policy a system of production for .
use and not for profit. Do. you consider it pernicious in
Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, where hundreds of work-
ers had gathered together? “What do you think of them?
The next one, “Why Are You Out of Work’; “On the -
_ Nature and Uses of Sabotage.” You will remember what I
said about the “Sabotage in the commercial -and business -
world.” “Strength of the Bolsheviki Government.” ‘The _
“Manchester Guardian” says,: “Despatch from Correspond-
ent in Warsaw.” “Russian Bolshevism,” by Bessie Beatty,.
author of “The Red Heart of Russia,” correspondent of the
San Francisco “Bulletin.” It is a long” article and I cannot —
take you over it all. It concludes: “Military intervention
has failed. It deserved to fail for its sheer stupidity, if for
“nothing else. The. scarcely less sinister policy of starving
. Russia - into submission to the will of the other nations can
i
be hardly more successful. The Papier-mache Governments
of the opposition which have sprung up like mushrooms all’
- over that-vast land, and have been as shortlived as mush-_
rooms, offer no hope of a working solution. It is time’ to-
~make an honest effort to find ont the true condition of Rus-
sia, and to understand what has really happened there. The |
most essential thing in understanding “the Russian .situa-
tion is a realization that it cannot. be judgéd ‘by any of the
old measuring sticks. We have here an experiment in Gov-
ernment. which has never before been made in the story of
; the race.”
_A little despatch from Reuters. You know, the Reuters
. Cable: London,. May 22; “Quarterly meeting of the Iron and
Steel Trades Conference practically unanimously carried a
resolution submitted by one of its branches in favor of the-
declaration of.a general strike.on July ist, to enforce the .
withdrawal of British. ‘troops of Russia.”
’ Then at the bottom, the little text I chose for my pres-.
‘ ent sermon: “Nothing is so-terrifying to the Socialists of -
today as the folly of their opponents. aa
.
“PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY sa
‘Exhibit 885, despatch from London, England, May : 27th, .
“Great Britain Triple Alliance”—I explained to you what ~
_.the Triple Alliance was;'a Miners, Transport Workers, and._
Railwaymen’s Union. “Great ‘Britain Triple Alliance de-
‘mands”—you notice the recurrence of that word “demands,”
gentlemen; a common term amongst members of the work-
ing class—“demands withdrawal from Russia.” —
Exhibit 495, “Red Flag,” of June 14th, 1919: “With.
. draw from Russia.” “No Conscription Resolution of the
Miners’ Federation,” from “Common Sense,” edited by-
Jerome K. J Samthén he is not known in the realm of liter-
ature in Britain; m no other man is. Just a short article:
“The lies told in the name of Mr. Lloyd George and placard-
ed over the country by-Coalition candidates at the General 4
Election, have come home to roost. Mr. Churchill’s Bill for
continuing conscription after the peace has exasperated the”
country, which wants to restore honesty and veracity in -
public life. So, on Wednesday the Miners’ Federation, after _
_completing its Conference on the Governments’ offer, went .
‘onto discuss Mr. Churchill’s Conscription Bill, and passed _
the following resolution.” March 29th. Who was. it said,
“Beware the Ides of March?”
* “That this Conference calls upon the Government im-
. mediately to withdraw all British troops from Russia, and
to take the necessary steps to induce the Allied powers to -
do- ‘likewise. We furthér most emphatically protest against
the attempt of the?Government to fasten conscription on-
this country by means of the Bill now before Parliament,
described as‘ the Naval, Military, and Air Forces’ Service ©
Bill, and call upon the Government immediately to withdraw —
. this. Bill, or, alternatively, this Conference proposes to take.
* such steps in conjunction with the organized Labor Move-
ment, both political and industrial, as will compel its with-”
drawal.”
Gentlemen, that is the language used. by: working Faen”
in their Congress in Britain—where I come from, and where *
possibly some of you come from.’
. «Then another one, “A Contrast.” “Organized Labor i in
Great Britain is demanding that the Allied Troops in Russia
be withdrawn and that the blockades be lifted.” And so on...
_ There is this in the same paper, Exhibit 495, “Printers ~
.
170 ~ -WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS —
én,
,
. Refuse to Set up Misleading. Copy at ‘Sun * Ordered Of
. Premises.” That is the Vancouver. ““Sun,’’ a morning news-
-paper. I don’t know whether the article was_by- the_well-
_ known Winnipeg correspondent, Colonel Porter, or not.
“The Laborer’s Turn”-——you remember me reading that
- to you before. It is from. the June’ “New Republic,’ that:
“admirable ‘American Weekly,” as the “Manchester Guar-’
dian” calls it. And this. article’that I read to you, shows
where’ the lawyers and the merchants, some time ago,
emancipated their jobs, and now, in the process of history,
the bricklayer and the carpenter, the machinist and_ the
blacksmith, like the laywers and merchants of the Middle -
Ages, have been brought’ on the turn of the wheel to the -
point;where they, too, say: “Let us emancipate our jobs.
Let us make our jobs honorable, then there will be no need
to’rise from our jobs, since the work of the street-sweeper ©
will be as necessary for the good of society as-the work of"
the doctor, the lawyer or possibly the philosopher.”
This: article in the admirable American Weekly; the
“New Republic,” says: “It is not proposed to reduce all
economic conditions to a dead level; it is not proposed to
remove the natural incentive that draw men out of one
career and into another. All that democracy requires is -
that the manifold trades shall be vested with industrial
. responsibility, and freed from the servile incidents of ex-
a
‘eessive fatigue and'sweated wages, so that the young men
_of ability and pride and ambition, who have a personal pref-
erence for them, may: elect them without feeling that they
are .committing themselves to a role of inferiority.” The |
last ‘sentence, “That is essential to democracy. It is also
“essential to economic progress.” There is an article here,
“The - Death Train of Siberia.” It is taken from the ‘“Liber-~
ator.” This story was first made known by a brief and
unrevealing despatch which. appeared in the New York
“Times.” . ,
Ty Petrograd. Now,” by Jean Longuet, in the Paris
“Populaire” “Captain of Finance and the Engineers.” And
’ here is Something that comes home to me, the one thing
above all others that I might have reason to feel hostile
: about, and yet I don’t. A despatch from London, June 22nd,
dealing ‘with Labor Party Conference at Southport... What ©
does it say? “Labor Party Conference at Southport has
7.
Ay
'- PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY =. < am
\ ce
LW —— . We
\
passed a resolution’ protesting ‘against. the attempt’ of the no
Canadian Government secretly to deport British-born lead-
ers of Labor for participation in recent industrial disputes
in-the-Dominion;-and-urging-the-British-Government-to-use———
its influence to prevent the Canadian .Government from pro- ;
_ ceeding with such a step.” ;
Exhibit 501, “The Soviet; ” of Edmonton—I have got to .
- go" over all” these, gentlemen, because they have all ‘been
-piled in against me, whether I like it or not. —“Bring” the
Boys Home from Russia,” from the “London Herald,”
. London Labor daily. The arguments are’ similar to those
Appearing in the “Manchester Guardian.”
“Lies Unearthed,” and an article about Russia in the ;
New York ‘Nation.”
And this is in blue pencil, I would take it, by the Crown
—whole portions of an article taken from the Babson’ Sta-”
tistical Organization to its capitalistic clients, Roger W.
Babson, is a statistical expert of the United States, and he
“writes an article for the benefit of his clients. Some Labor
people published the article in their paper, and counsel for
’ the Crown puts a blue'mark around it. I don’t know whether
itisa ‘compliment to Babson or not.
‘Then the article: “The Vicious Circle—Flour Mills are
Forced to Close,” in the “Soviet,” of April 18th, 1919.
Then Exhibit 958, “What is the Truth About Bolshevist:
Russia ?”’: editorial taken: from the “Chicago Tribune,” Sat-- -
urday, March 22nd, 1919, contains arguments similar to :
those I have presented before.
In the “Soviet,” of June 10th, “May Day ‘Demonstra- .
“Despite cold and showery weather, . the May Day
demonstrations in Scotland were. almost everywhere. im-
pressive and enthusiastic, giving the capitalists who wit- .
nessed the procession great pain and apprehension. |
. . “The ‘Glasgow*Herald’ admist 100, 000 persons on Glas-. .
‘ gow Green, and the procession through the streets certainly.
_ tions in Scotland, ” evidently taken from an Old Country a
‘paper. .
took fifty minutes to pass.” Who were in the procession, .
gentlemen? “Banners, decorations, gaily-caparisonied horses, -
172 "..” WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS —
red rosettes everywhere.” Red—red—red rosettes every- —
where! Somehow or other the blue pencil did not hit upon |
this piece of “ted.” ‘There were no untoward incidents,
___although_at-one_point-some—of the-young-bloods~made-re=——
marks to the police about ‘Bloody Friday,’ which were not ,
—distinctly not—appreciated; and Andy Cameron march-
ing in the Discharged-Soldiers’ contingent, was not popular .-
’- with the capitalists, as he shouted out mockingly, ‘Ye’re no
throwin’ chocolates at us noo!” A cyclist, too, holding up
‘photographs of the smashing of Davie Kirkwood by, the
policemen’s baton in George Square—he also was not pop-
ular! A little girl in white, riding on a pony, was “a dis--
. tinctive, feature of the procession.’
Then what did I say about working class meetings in
Britain? ‘‘At the Green there were_no fewey than 22 plat-
forms, and upwards of 100 speakers. Vast€rowds gathered:
round.each platform, and the literary salesman plied their
wares.. Most of the.speakers dealt with the British:Govern-
*, -ment attacks upon the Soviet Government of Russia, and
- condemnatory references to intervention met with cheers.
- A very large crowd gathered at the platform, addressed by
‘the Countéss Marcovitz, as she described’ what was going
on in: Sinn Fein Ireland. At every platform ‘the following.
. resolution was/put and carried unanimously.” . ;
And this is wha I want to bring to your attention. At
a meeting-like that inNGlasgow, they declare for “The over- ~*~ —
throw of the capitalistic system of production for profit, and
the establishment of a co-operative commonwealth’ based- ©
_ upon production for use; and, further, that this meeting of
workers assembled on Glasgow Green sends their fraternal
greetings to.the European Soviet Republic and the workers .
of.the world: Also, we protest against the arrest and depor- |
’ tation of foreign subjects without trial; further, we urge
the withdrawal of all armies of occupation, and declare in .-
favor of the Ist day in May being observed as International. ;
Labor Day.” ° -
This is put in by the Crown, “A Reply to the Press Lies
’ Concerning the Russian Situation.” The Crown Says, .
“Banned.” It had been banned by an Order-in-Council in.. -
Canada: “An Open Letter.to America,” by Arthur Ran~ -
some. Just before we thee Hes ok oe “Preface to ‘the -
Open Letter”—the preface oes not appear here, but a
-“ . : sos mal ~
ee
"- PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS 70 JURY. - - 718
heading appears: “The following: ‘article is a reprint from.
the ‘New Republic,’ issue of July 27th, and is from the pen -:
of Mr. Arthur-Ransome, “well known_in_the-newspaper-and——
literary’ world. Mr. Ransome writes from Moscow, having ~
been in Russia all through the revolutionary period, hence
this article is written by one who really knows the state of
affairs there. It is free from prejudice, and is a clear and
‘concise statement of the facts, which. place Mr. Ransome.
amongst those rare exceptions who have not allowed their
class interests to bias their judgment. His concluding para-
graphs are particularly fine, where he makes his appeal to
the people of other countries, and should at least clear the
mind of the reader of the lies that have been circulated by.
the’ capitalist press.”
_ The: ‘point IT want to bring=out is thatrthis “Open Let- .
tem: “according to the heading, was a reprint from the “New ~~”
Republic;”\ of “J uly 27th, of which the “Manchester Guar- -
dian” says,” “That admirable American Weekly, the: ‘New
Republic.’”, Agd the “New. Republic” reprint, “An Open
- Letter,” was fanned from-Canada. There is no evidence to
show that the “New Republic” was banned from entry into ~
-Canada. You will remember what I-had to say with respect
to the censor, and the banning .of all that list, of books,
that I have,mentioned one or two times. But here is the:
Letter’; but when the article is reprinted as a pamphlet;
'.. the Canadian censor, in his good-“judgment, says: “That |
pamphlet must be banned.” Yet, at the very same time you
<
~
ry
-+ position, €éntlemen, that “Admirable American Weekly” .-
. _- still continués coming into Canada, containing this “Open. --
could go into a book store and buy the “Néw Republic”
that it, was copied from. ---
‘You will remember me reading, some time ago, ‘the:
coricluding paragraph of this “Open Letter to America.” ' --
“Well, writing at a speed to break my pen, and-with the
. knowledge that in a few hours the man leaves Moscow who
_ is to carry this letter with,him to America. ...” and so on,
he. goes on to state: “No one contends that the Bolsheviks
e angels. I ask only that:‘men shall look through the fog -
of libel that surrounds them and: see that the ideal for 2 :
which, they are struggling, in-the only way in which they -:
can struggle, is among those lights which every man of .
‘ ' -young: and honest heart sees before him somewhere on the ‘.
road, and: not among those other lights from which he reso-
; ‘ i . : - _. . . ; . ; _ Py
et me ~27 + .
a 1th; a _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS ~
_hitely turns away. These’ men who have made ‘the Sovigt
’ Government in Russia; if they must. fail, will fail with’ clean- ~
shields and clean hearts, having striven for an ideal which
will live’ beyond them-Even if -they: fail, they will none the _
’ less have written.a. page of history’ more. daring than any ~~
othér which T-can remember in the story of the human race.
‘ _ They are writing it: amid’ showers | of mud from all the
7
~ meaner.‘spirits. in their_country,€in yours—and_in-my—owB-—
~ But, When the. thing is: over and their enemies have tri-
, “Umphed,” “the ‘mid ‘will vanish like”black - magic at noon, and -
_ tha7page-will be. as. white°as ‘the-snows-of Russia, and the |
owriting”on it as! bright as the gold domes that I used to
see ‘glittering i in the sun when I looked from my windows i in
Petrograd.” a
oo “And ‘When: i in after years men read that } page. they will
.: judge your. country and mine, yoyr race:and mine, by the
: 7 “help or hindrance they. gave-to. th writing of it, ” .
— . aan oT he. Bolshevist Declaration of Rights,” appears on the.
". Front page. of. the “Western. Clarion,” Oetober ist, 1918,
_-and the Crown made quité.a noise about it. It is from the
* September number of “Current.History.” “Current His- .
». tory” is-a monthly periogical,-T think I may tell you, gentle-- ~
en,. published by_ the New, Yonk “Times,” all. through the
es sriod of thé war:, I.think theéNew: York “Times” is one’
7.0. € newspapers: that His, lordship thought, you your-
“selves might have here to readi_ ; a
The "Whole: Business is taker from “Current History.”
“eg repreducing.’ it here ‘Current\History’ magazine. leavesy. |
the-reader to make his. own;comments upon the Bolshevist -
_ “acts, as’ ‘compared : wiht the Principles Bnpyssertions con- |
~tained in the’ documsitt. ”
= ‘Then the ‘Crowit “tpled sto. conhect me up, because here
is ‘an ‘artiéle, “Editorial eudition;” by:“W.A.B,” The Crown
_ have contended that, that “W-.A.P.” means. W} Ae Prifgha abd :
“pOF. course, it could megn .something else. _ te
2 _ Here are ‘twor édital als? “August: Sisto 1918, the day 7
béfore’Labor Days. one front: the ‘Vancouvep “World, ”” and .
the other from thé Vancouver “Province,” ‘set, Sic b by ede ‘
‘The “Province” ‘talks abotit the’ ‘gospels 6f the fvo ing’ class, -
‘ang “The term ‘wage’slavery’.as being accepted Joy a group
ee: Jocal orators and, writers Asia correct Stee eng. of the, .
ee eter 2 Sd foo se 7
: te of"
eo. er
. vat .
.
and the employer works harder~and gets less:” On the
other ‘side is the editorial f the Vancouver . “World”:
“Investigation of faod profiteering in the United States‘dis-
-closes facts unparalleled except perhaps in Russia. A: report
recently made to the United States Treasury shows- profits
exceeding in some: “Cases_a_thousand_per-cent._Some-of- the
figures. given are trily” astonishing, for instance, a canning ~
‘company which made a profit, in 1916, of 3gT per cent.,
increased that figure, in 1917, to 1,074. »
* You'ean see the parallel: “Where the worker gets a
lar an hour and the boss works harder and gets less,” and
here is'a firm that increases 2-377 per cent. profit .to 1,074
per cent—they must have been wpking a good many hours”
‘a day to’make that! . . 2
‘ A flour milling company, with a capital of $2,500, 000,
made a-clear profit of one million dollars last year. And
dozens of canning companies. made profits over 100’ per
-cent. Meat packers did especially well.” ; yoo
. THE COURT; What is that wap you Bre reading |
from?: --
MR. PRITCHARD: “Exhibit 845,.My Lord.
THE COURT: Is it referring to anada
.
. +» tween “the United States and. Canada. This is ‘an eBiorial
- in the ‘Vancouveh “World” that I was quoting.
Lo. article th follows underneath, gentlemen, is, an. .
artic e. the Crown corfyend was “written by. mysélf. ,
j Anow you my, viéwpoint, which might:have.
helped in the matter of intent. But T will let that: pass. . ‘
ge ‘Dealing with the. fnatfer of intent, I come to October
f & -15, 1918, “Western. Clarion,” Exhibit 846, which deals with r
a the matter of. ‘‘The Suppression, of. Foreign: Organizations ,
—_ in Canada,” which qudtés‘a despatch from Ottawa, dealing °
. ° + with this situation.. Then underneath there is a statement’ —
. - of the position taken by the editor, I's Watters ‘of the paper, .°':-
> stating the party’s position in this “ tern Clarion,” the -
say? organ oft the Socialist Party | af ‘Canada. What: does i
‘i say? no
176 ~ : coe WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
“We have always realized that the governinent of a’ -
people, whose \group interests are profoundly in conflict,
must of necessity . -be a dictatorship. In times of great na-
tional stress, ‘and especially of war, it finds extraordinary .
_ measures of. coercion necessary to ensure the success of its
" policies. . _
“In tigges of peace these coercive measures are found
— neither necessary nor excusable, and the statesmen and
_f Tulers of the past: whom posterity have most délighted to. ~
honor have generally deemed it wisest and most politie to -
relax this tyranny and rule with the iron hand under the’
velvet glove. Society is made up of many conflicting ele-
ments.” It deals apparently with the suppression of the
~ foreign Organizations.
’ Then it states: “In view of this we are oth to believe
that any government would be so pitifully blind and foolish
-as to attempt to suppress this movement. We. hope and.
trust they will not. For our desire, more even than our
\, political opponents, because we know our histories better,
is for a peaceful, orderly solution of the admitted social
evils of modern times. We regret the act of the Canadian-
Government and cannot regard ‘it as necessary, but we do -
not believe, yet, that its intention is to try to suppress the _
Socialist Movement, and think the extraordinary measures -
that have been taken are taken not with a view of their -
“permanency, but as temporary expedients of a war-time .. ~
policy. However, time will tell.’ Doesn’t that show the
pasition. of these men, recognizing ‘the stress of war times, 7”
when there came this suppression of the various organiza-_
%
tions in Canada. This organization was not mentioned; you _
cannot find it amongst the list of names that are put in on
the Exhibits—you cannot find the. name of the Socialist ; .
Party of Canada amongst the suppressed organizations.
“We have had more than’ enough from press‘and pul- -
pit of the shallow anarchistic bourgeois * justification of
wars, that the world needs a‘blood bath periodically in order
to achieve spiritual and social regeneration.. Wars and-other
~ gocial violences are the surface effects of f deeper- “lying causes
than any such creed. The truth of greatest” significance’
that history has to show us is that these calamitous affairs.
‘result from the arresting of- social forces in their natural
channels of development; some obstruction; something °
standin} in the way.
k
| PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS: TO JURY n . 177
¢ a: av .
“Socialists claim™ no ‘monopoly of. the virtues, They -
; concede to all their opponents, equal -with Sthemselves, .
. strength of ‘desire to abolish social ills, but. they believe
they know what is wrong with society, and more-‘than thei
opponents think it possible to accomplish. They. believe th
know how to remedy the wrong, how to remove the obstrit- ~
tion _and.set_the ‘social life ‘processes free. And from. this __.
: work they can not stay their hand. ‘
-- “We counsel all our comrades to keep their heads.
Carry on the Socialist ‘propaganda within the Law. Organ-
ized society, even such as it is, is the product of historical x
development. You can not place yourself outside it, outside
its forms, its pains and penalties, its rules’and procedures,
ae nick it into your desired Position as you would a -'
' footba
&
a ‘bs,
“- “Be of good -cheer. After all we are sure of this, that
the working class have the ‘good will. of history.’ No Boy.
ernment can suppress that 1 fact A . :
‘ - Do you see, in the language used there, - genttbrnen,
what the nature of the intent. is?. Dealing with the situa--
_.tion and counselling, from this paper, of.carrying on ‘Suchr ca,
“propaganda within the Law? That all men must find them- —° -
”. selves subject to the Laws of organized society, such as it
is, seeing that-it is.the product of history! We cannot
- place ourselves outside of it.and kick it into the position, -
that we desire, like: a football! .
a
- ‘Then there: are _some more articles, “Genuineness of a
., ‘Bolshevik Documeni{s,’ ” “Published by Committee of Pub- .
lic Information Dowhegaey -Capitalist Newspaper.” “Fok “ee
“lowing is an editorial t8kén:ftom-the New York ‘Evg
Post,’ of September 16t 4, 1918. ” The article follows :
a Then we come to phibit } No. “498; “Senator Jo Hn: son ee
-and the Russian ‘Intervention. 7 «Tn ‘the New York | aa
- ater Johnson’s speech in the Senate.’? ‘ Quite a long-article
—I am not.going through it all. He refers to Colf Rabe -.
'. and the’position Robizis took with ‘respect to the communi-\\:
- cation that he got from Russia that Ihave already 1 ra erred =
to.. At the conclusion of his’ address he said:
1B Se - WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS rr oe
me “There is a héavy_ reckoning some day for those who.
: ‘have been’ ‘responsible for’ this wicked and this useless
- .gourse: in Russia. And the heaviest responsibility, the
- wrong ‘which can never be atonéd, js\the shedding of.
», ‘Amierican blood-in Russia. .It is to t Nhase I desire to - __
” grouse. the. Congress, and to which, if t the power and.
_-my voice would carry,-1: ‘would arouse \th4 people of the
“nation? It-is of ‘American boys and Amérigan n_blood. Iam
——thinking:™ ; er
a,”
‘And ‘then, mind ‘you, here the London “Times” informs “
us of a Conference convened by the “Hands Off Russia” .
- -: Committee,. held. ‘tn the.Memorial Hall, Farringdon ‘Street.
. = Tt, goes on. to, say ‘that. two or three hundred delegates
— attended. | . “
og “A mags meeting was held at night in the , oirile hall,”
“and although.we understand that it has seating capacity :
-for some ten thousand people, yet. the overflow, meetings
en had- to be held downstairs:. .
_ “The Chiairmai © was “Mr. Arti: Machen: of the’ “a
Clyde Workegs. mo :
‘Then we come to ‘Exhibit 668, “Western Clarion.” My
learned friend, Mr. -Pitblado, pointed . out, “After-the-war *
‘- “Problems,” by W. A. Pritchard; No. 2, “Woman and Mother-
hood,” and he read rapidly from these quotations, and “not
_ very distinctly. I haven’t the time to go all through -that -
carticle to show what. I was doing when I wrote it. ‘Listen,
* though! - What do’ I ‘state in the beginning of the article?
“The task we essay: in this article is to demonstrate! (a),
the desperate need of the masters for
- thé war; (b)' the utter impossibility of ;
. -Object without -ruthlessly destroying the xisting moral
fabric of society. Before proceeding to an at em ed proof.
of the two. propositions given above, let us regfurn to-the -
“article mentioned, in our ‘last, to wit, Spence srodréy’s. .
““Woman’s Invasion of British Industry,” i in order to grasp, ~ -
if possible, the’ significance of woman’s present position as +"
an ‘industrial factor. tt = re :
Those who are interested ‘can read all of this article - -
of Brodney’s, in “Current History,” for April, 1916, pub-
lished, ast I have told you, by the New York “Times. a .
~ ¢ . ,
- ’ PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS.TO JURY 2+ 199
‘Here are these quotations, not in my” words at all, but
used ‘i in my argument, taken from Spencer Brodney:
“The excess number of women over men: made mar-
riage: ‘not the certainty it ought to be. After the war the ©
‘number of marriageable men “will be still smaller by reason
‘of those lost in the war or crippled and invalided by service
-at the front. At the same time en able to marry will
be less likely to do so when goxd employment is scarcer _
‘and the cost of living higher.”
Remember, ne was dealing with oman’s Tnvasion of
British Industry.”
-Then I quote : again further down, which Mr. Pitbledo
pointed out was in black-faced type. “But England, after
the war,-is going to be no land. of faery, but one- where
. illusions will be stripped aside by- disconcerting: realities.
_.The war has shewn that there is apparently nothing’ a
-woman_ cannot do.”—Spencer Brodney--not Pritchard. ;
“In fact it is conceivable that, apart from the necessity .
of having fathers for the succeeding generations, woman
..could get along ‘quite easily without men.’ : .
: ‘Then-it goes along ‘to deal- with the position of woman
in industry: “The factories making munitions will, of course,
slose down as soon as the war is overffand the women, as
as the men, who have been drawn on for this labor will
no Nonger be required. But there will ‘still be the -women
in the other professional, commercial, and industrial. occu-. ~ :
en in pret there will be no closing. wn. It is there. .
number of female wagé-earners will be enormously greater
"than before the war, that many will have learned the mean-
-ing of economic independence, and in so learning will have’
-acquired, new, ways 3.0f life: and thought..
: “The- -problem “of unemployment among men. n will, as ‘we
; ” have. seen, be acuter than it has ever,been. It will not be.
-. the only problem., There will be another. ‘Great Britain, .
. ‘like the othér belligerent” countries;-is suffering from a./
. terrible wastage -of manhood: -The-loss cannot..be made ~’, -
- good * in: ‘Tess ‘than a generation. ‘But even ‘then the nation’ 3
7 yo : a -_
ane Ts ane .
Men a
supply of men will not “be fully replenished unl ss it be
i Heome
180 _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS -
2
X
possible for the women of this generation
mothers.” — - ' - . _.
Spencer ‘Brodney. is dealing -with a social problem: as a
reader and observer of men and things.. He was the editor
of “Current History” for a time. In: just_recognizing—the
zr
force of his argument; what was I doing, but assisting in
the more general understanding of the nature of these prob- -
lems? Showing what had been advocated in certain quar-
ters. And this was quoted against me. It was what Spencer’
Brodney said. I was using it only as a quotation—not my
own words atwall.” 7 -
~
“In some quarters it is urged that every woman able
to fulfil her natural function should, as a duty, become a
mother; and so, for this first time in Christendom, we get
a frint that partial polygamy is to be pardoned in the, inter-
s
of the State, and more boldly “the demand Wfat the-..
unmarried mother should no longer be. regarded as a sin-
ner.” Written by Spencer Brodney in. urrent. ' History,” cs
° but used as evidence against Pritchard,
oa
Iam going from one point to -another, gentlemen: ‘This .
has. all been put in here against mez Here again, “Scraps
of Paper in History, ” by W. A. Pritchard: “Bhilip of Mace-
. -don -and Athens.”
Lo. Gentlemen of the jury, I have gone at, some length, ©
.
‘and possibly even to the point of exhausting your patience, Jo
into this question of the attitude of the workers here in.
Western Canada to the Russian s{tuation. I have done so,
gentlemen, for the reason that the contention-of the Crown -
‘is, that at the Walker.Theatre meeting, and meetings in’
Calgary, in Vancouver, and it may be in other places, similar ~
resolutions were being passed dealing: with this question,
and asking for the withdrawal of troops from Russia, and
by that process of reasoning, the Crown contends further,
that since the acts of this Conference ‘and the acts of that
and the other Conferences all look alike, the conclusion to be
drawn is, as Mr. Ivens ‘said,. that there, was a’ conspiracy. .
. amongst the hens. And in ‘making our position clear for -:
demanding the withdrawal of troops frdm Russia, I have ~
gone to some pains in order to put ‘before you, if-I could,
our r general viewpoint; and to show you. that what we work. *.
>
~ . —_ ae,
one
oo
ww
4
‘men in- this part of the Dominion were , déing,. was identical
‘ with the position taken by some of the leading men of the
- day; identical with the position of Senator Johnson of the
ae PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO.JURY ~ “181.
United ‘States of America; identical with the position taken -
by, the workers in the I. L. P. Conference-held in Hudders-
field, Yorkshire, in April,’ "1919; ‘identical with their Con-
. ventions in. Glasgow and. Southport;. identical with the -
position. taken by the Triple Alliance, the Organization ‘of -
the Railway Workers, the Miners, and the Transport Work-
ers of Great-Britain. The workers i in all these organizations
were against prosecuting a war against a country and-a
se ‘People when: ‘war had not been declared upon them. -: L
ee.
/
= And. ‘at “the. very same time -when we were sending . .
. greetings: to the workers of Russia* concerning which the
Crown has made so much fuss, the same. thing was being
done all over Great. Britain by the workers in that country,
- and they had even taken the position that if necessary dras- |
_ tic action be taken with. respect to this particular question.
Ihave developed my argument also, to show you that
_ the -resolutions passed, concerning the political prisoners,
the withdrawal of troops from-Russia, and the removal of
tthe censorship on certain scientific and religious works in
is country, were similar to resolutions passed by the work- -
“ers in ‘the-Old Land; and whatever language-had been used,
and whatever sentiments were expressed at these different
jvas
2
times and places, that on no gccasion was the language. half ~ ”
7 Censorship! In this connection I take’ a. position. which
‘may involve. a Jegal argument, and consequently I do not
.
want to go into it lengthily. So far as you and I aré-eon- ,
.cerned,-I brought it to the ‘attention of- His’ Lordship, and.. :
“rightly - so, he doesn’t consider it within his province to'.:
dispose. of it.- But I understand that an Order-in-Council :
ig virtually a-Stktute, and I further. ‘understand: ‘that:-a.
Statute carries its own interpretation. I find:an Order-ni.~
- Council put in here by: the Crown.-as gn Exhibit, and you.
-will remember that, I tried to deal: With it in the’ early ©
stages. of this trial.. This Order-in-Council—I cannot: ‘recall ::
hee: So ae
.* 30 strong, half so forceful, half so incisive, ‘as ‘the language | : :
_ used in the editorials of the “Manchester Guardian” upon. -
: the ‘same questions. ann ’
4 a
the - exact Wording of f it goes something | like this. Jee wok ‘, =
ae
.
y
12 - °° WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS - --
-
."On guch’a day, a certain postcard, entitled, “After the-
: War,” published by Charles H. Kerr and Company, at such
and sueh an address in the City of Chicago, and other pub- -
lications of the said Charles H. Kerr and Company, that
have hitherto and may hereafter be published, are by Order-
4n-Council, by virtue of the War Measures Act, declared ~
objectionable in Canada and placed under the ban.
It-is-funny to someé of us, looking or the definiteness
‘ in‘an Order-in-Council which is supposdd always to be in a
. Statute. Do you see what.it-:meant to fren who had to take.
works on sociology, works on ethnology, works dealing with:
organic and inorganic evolution, and various other pieces _
of literature which they had held in their possession for
years for the purpose of studying, from off their shelves
and destroy them? Some working men may spend a little
change ‘on beer; seme working.men may spend a little
change on billiards:6% some other game, and some working
- men may spend a little change on books, and after ten or
' twelve years they‘have a library of books which they enjoy
and that they read for themselves. Like a bolt from the
_ blue there comes an Order-in-Council, and an entire library
- of fifteen years’ collecting,.js blown to the four winds.. No
as 7
other conclusion is left to the working man but that if the.
censor did not act maliciously, he acted from pure unadul-'
terated ignorance. . oS : on
e)
The wording of that Order-in-Council still stands before
“‘me—“a post card”—and then with a long sweep of a mighty -
hand,’ “and other.publications of the said Charles H. Kerr
. & Company.” D6 you see what it meant?’ Not “a post card
and one other publication ;” not a “postcard and some other .
publications,” nor “a post card and all other. publications.”
. The thing was. left hanging delightfully. in the atmosphere.
_ We look at it from.one sidé and from the other—“a post
card and other publications.” Did it,mean some other pub-
lications; or did it mean fifty other publications;-or did it.
mean: all other publications, and if it did: mean all other
publications, then why did it not say so; why didn’t it have
_ that definiteness that is always supposed to be part of a .
‘ Statute? Ts ao poo NO
’ -So we took the stand at‘that.Conventién, in regard to
.-the censorship, a stand thaf-has been taken, I should say, -
by many other people, that-the ban should be taken off those .
}
‘PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO TORY 183
_ world scientific works. Surely, ‘gentlemen, if I have a copy
of a book, “Fragments of Science,” by: Tfndall, published
in Britain, and alongside: of it I have the same book, “Frag-
ments of Science,” written by Tyndall, published by Charles
H. Kerr & Co., should the’Law say the one is banned and .
____the other one | is not?- Where is +t ig absurdity?” Inthe book’
And if it is not in the book, do y&u blame us for. concluding
that.it must be‘in the Law? If I have a copy of Marx’s
“Capital,” published in London, as far as the Law is con- -
cerned, that book.can-be on my Shelf; yet, if the plates are
taken from the place where that book was printed and used —
‘by Charles H. Kerr & Company, and the same book-is pro-
. duced, I cannot have.it in my possession, according to Law.
I have on the shelves of my;library two volumes of Marx’s
.. ~ “Capital” ; ; oné published since 1907, by Charles H. Kerr &
Company, the othef published in England, by George Allen,
the same book, printed from the same plates! You see how
it affected us. The Law says that the book published in
Chicago is banned; if itis published in London it is all right,
yet, printed off the same plates.”
- Under ‘those conditions we had to protest and we did
_protest. And we came to the conclusion that the war being’... -
over, just as we.did with respect to these conscientious
objectors, that no miore useful purpose could be served by ‘
keeping in existence an Order-in-Council of that kind.
Exhibit 938, “Shall Socialism Triumph | in Russia, ” by
. John. Reed. I don’t want to take-up your time by reading
from that littl booklet, although I have, some: parts of it-
’ #Tessons: of the Russian
~~
marked up. _ “
7
Then they brought thrée-or-four. c copies of this:
i tinte or, -by ‘Lenine, Exhibit
868. What do I: find on it? “British Socialist’ Party, 21a
Maiden Lane, Strarid, London; W.C., 2nd July, 1918.” Then
I find they, too, have a library | of the following publications:
“The Politics ‘of. Capitalism,” by J. T. Walton Newbold,
“M.A.”; “Karl Marx, His Life and Teachings”; “Marx and
“Modern Capitalism,” by J. T. Walton Newbold, M.A.; -ad-
dress, “British Socialist Party, 21a Maiden Lane, Strand,
‘London, WiC.
- Questions and. Answers on the Bolsheviks and the Soviel
a “¢
a
; You remember I read to you from’ a ‘little booklet, “16
: ey re WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS — _- 7
by the Rev. Albert Rhys Williams. ‘You will remember they ~
. put this in as evidence of-sedition and seditious conspiracy.” ;
* You will remember how I read from this flyleaf that Albert
Rhys Williams was a war correspondent in Belgium, and
‘ author of “In the-Claws of the’ German Eagle.” He went -
to Russia and.for fifteen months lived in the. villages with = --
the-peasants, in the Red Army with the soldiers, and in the.
industries with the workers. .His travels took him down :
the.“Mother” Volga and through the beautiful Ukraine-on _
_ the Dneiper, then'through all the great cities of Russia and as
“over 6,000 miles of the Trans-Siberian Railway: .
“ .. He addressed the ‘soldiers at the front, the great mass G
’ meetings of the People’s House in Petrograd, and the Cirque ..
‘Moderne, and the sailors of the’Baltic Fleet. When the Ger-*
mans began the drive on Petrograd -he organized an Inter- 1.
‘national Legion for the defense of the Red Capitol. Inthe. -..
- Foreign Office of the Soviet Government He-helped prepare =.
‘the propaganda which was sent to Germany’ to stir uP: the .
= revolution. ; :
Some of his experiences Mr. Williams has written for vo
“New Republic,” “The Nation’ and other- ‘journals. After -
. his addresses in the Church of the Ascension, in New York,
‘and at Fort Hall, in Boston, many questions were Taised. :
Some of them are briefly answered here. ; ‘ yo
You will remember hw two or three weeks ago I went
tirough this book with ybu and carried. point.after point, -
‘and I do not: want to trouble you with any further reading
‘from this little pamphlet, xcept to bring to your minds just
. this one point. The gGestion is set down here by Albert
Rhys Williams: “Are Socialists the only ones who believe - ,
. in the Soviets?” An gives the answer: “No, all classes
of. Americans; Colonel . Thompson, of Wall Street; .
Colonel Raymond Robins, head of the American Red Cross, 7
who knew Lenine and Trotsky; Major Thatcher; Bessie bead
-’ Beatty, of the San Francisco “Bulletin”; Louise Bryant, of .-° ~
> the Bell Syndicate; Madeline. Z. Doty, ‘of Harpers; Louis ~:
: Edgar Brown, of the’ Chicago “Daily News”; Dr. Charles . .
F..Kunz; Jerome Davis, acting head of the American ‘Y,
'M. C. A. in Russia; Joba Reed, of the Liberator, and. stores -
Of others.” . ~ So
- Here is an Exhibit put i in by the Crown, No. 827, “The ~
Russian Soviet Republic Speaks to President Wilson? This he
, “was the. ‘address of Tchitcherin to President Wilson. lt
opens: “Note of ‘Soviet Commissaire of ‘Foreign Affairs,
transmitted October 24th, 1918.” It doesn’t give any indi-
cation of..where it came “from. This is what I wanted to
’ bring to your attention: “Mr.- President: In your message-
J¢huary.4th to the Congress of the United ‘States of-
“No th America, in the sixth point, you spoke.of your pro-
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY ~~ 185 Lg
’ Brest-Litovsk against Ge
fofnd™ sympathy for “Russia, which- was ‘then conducting,
e-handed, négotiations with the mighty German Im-
’ perialism. - Your programme, you declared, demands the
. evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of
all questions affecting Russia as will secure that best and.
'freest co-operation of. the -other- nations of-the world in
~ obtaining for her unhampered and unembarrassed oppor-
tunity for the independent determination of he¥ political
development and-national policy, and assure her a sincere
welcome into the society of free nations under institutions
of her own choosing; and, more than a’ “welcome, assistance ‘
-of every kind that she may need and may herself desire.
' And you added that the ‘treatment accorded to Russia by
her sister nations in the rent hs to ee
test of their good-will, of theicomprehension’or her needs
as distinguished from their omen interests, and of their
_ intelligent and unselfish $s pathy.
é
é
“The desperate str ggle’ which we were waging ‘at -
an Imperialism apparently only
‘intensified your sympathy for Soviet Russia, for you sent’
. greetings to the Congres of the Soviets (March, 1918)”—a_
. full year befere our.Conferénce in March, President Wilson
sends. greetings. to the Soviets—“‘which, under the threat -
of a German offensive ratified the ‘Brest Peace of violence.
--—-greetings and assurances that Soviet Russia might count
upon American help. ”
_ Here I want to bring‘ your. attention to Exhibit 847;
..this_seems to be a- manuscript, headed “Another: Glorious
” Wietory. ”” I-am told it was found in ‘the room™of-a-~man™
_ named -Beeny:. Some kind of stuff written up for the press
~-) and signed “Socialist Party of Canada, ‘I ‘Local, No, 3, “Win- fee
_ mipeg.”. - - Lo
‘The’ ‘first pategtaph was -¥ead by thie ‘Grown “for ihe. at
* “purposé” “Of. dealing with the Majestic-Theatre, and. Market
, Square meetings. ° ‘Tt “was something . evidently written n by":
ny ar : _ aes
186 - me “WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS Te ae ee
" some, member of: the Socialist Party of Canada, dealing with
’ this particular incident... It says: “A-meeting called ‘by the_’
: Socialist Party of “Canada, first in the Majestic Theatre, —
arid later in the Market Square, to pay_honor to the- memory
of Liebknecht and Luxemburg, who gave up their lives-as .
“a culmination: of their life-long struggle against Kaiserdom ~
and its supporters in Germany, was on Sunday, January —
-——26th, -1919;broken- “up by veterans of the war.’ . te : mots
- It goes on: “Another glorious victory- has been won. _
. the members of the Board of Trade, of the Grain, Exchange,-
the Real Estate Exchange, and all the other organizations °
‘lof the master class are’ jeyful.- The word passes. around ~
amongst them, ‘we should worry about Bolshevism: in Can-
ada, why, the Great War' Veterans are-on our side“against
‘the working class. If those workers ask more wages the -
- G: W.-V. will supply.us with men‘to beat them up or better .°
> gtill, will go to work inthe strikers’ places and with the help ° . —
of their pensions be able to work cheaper.’.”’ . Arguments, ’
, *pparently,. he is offering in this article. .
. He goes on ‘to deal with this’ incident: “Sharp at 2
o’clock the members of the G. W. V. Association, as so care-- ~
-fully. advertised on their notice board for days before, cee.
‘_assembled at their headquarters in the London Block, Main~ -
Street, and some -hundreds strong marched down to the
Market Square as they tersely put it ‘to beat the speakers
up.” Without reading all the way through, -this writer
- refers to the incident as anarchism, and refers to the in-
’ dividuals that were engaged’in this ‘business as anarchists.
“Net being able to satisfy their blood lust on the Market’
_-~ Square, like the real anarchists they are, they.then marched _
- to-our headquarters.on Smith Street to destroy our belong- | “~
ings. We see then the difference in.tactics between ‘the.
anarchists: and_ the. Socialist who propagates his ideas.
amongst the workers in order ‘that they will capture the.
political powers, so that by legal means they will be able to
_ take over the property of the capitalist class to be admin; | -
istered in the interest of all the people, whereas the an-
archist in the flush. of his* glorious _vietory proceeds to~
destroy property.” . at . ;
.
a This thing then goes on to deal with the position of a , ,
_« the Labor Party. ;
rd
« . re .
‘ t =. ~ > .
Pte : “PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO TORY - ve 187 -
” Now, # gentlemen, I am going to deal with some of that 7
-correspondence, but I think -perhaps I -had better, leave the
argument until after supper. sc
- THE COURT:. ‘Yes; we will adjourn.
(Court adjc ourned at 6. p.m., March 24th , 1920 tb
are 8 p.m, March 24th, 1920).
ss ts 7 a 48 . a a
SS = ~: - March 24th, 1920, 8 pam.
MR. BONNAR: I think- possibly it would. be as well. to .
let ‘the: court and jury have an idea about where we stand |
“in the’ case; My, Lord, it might be interesting to the jury, .”
_especially.. Mr. Pritchard has become practically exhausted
‘and will endeavor to close his address tonight. Tomorrow,. -
‘ Mr. Heaps will addréss the Jury,’ ‘and if there is any time ..
eft, over-after Mr. Heaps gets through tomorrow, some of
the accused would like if I would occupy the balance of the -.:
’ evening in.a ing the jury, myself. I thought possibly
i not address the jury at all, but if there is time they _
“hours. like’ that I should address ‘the jury for a céuple ‘of;
ours
HIS LORDSpIP: We swould ‘be very disappointed if -
you did not. Ne
cool. MR. BONNAR:. I “thoustit. you. would be- - very. glad. 1.
aay “However, we are going to try and closé the addresses to- ca
_morrow‘night, so that the jury: can get away this week.
"AIS LORDSHIP: That is Thursday. < -
MR. BONNAR? 1 That is Thursday.’ I thought they —
_.. would like to know they might be certain to get away home
' “ on Saturday. ,
FOREMAN: OF JURY: That i is joyful news, My Lord.
_ i. _'. HIS LORDSHIP: I thought you woilld object to that.
. I have’ not any home to go to, so it does not matter, to. me. -
MR.. BONNAR; That is your: -loss, My - Lord.
“MR. PRITCHARD: I am- agreeing with you again, 7
My. Lord.. Gentlemen of the jury, I do not want to tire you.
cf feel I am. a tiring myself. I am 1 tired i in my mind’ and T want...
i : - Aa
i an!
": 188°. . > -, _.WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS j
» “to cover what remains-in this vast amount if.
possible space of time. It is'a physical impo.
men, to go through every. single item and. d
~ have done my best to take what I conside
~ important features as presented by the
__.+_them-to-the- best of my little ability, and if
one instance, could it not be done in theo
* And I shall have to make a summary a li
'.. points that have been established,
16th, to Berg. It says: “Wire reply if Knight\
'. méeting, Winnipeg, Sunday, first, seven p.m. W
expenses.” ‘In reply to that: “Joe has arranged\
. | for’ Miners at Canmore for Sunday, ‘but.if you. thay:
good can be done by him going te Winnipeg. he is. wit;
-go.- Miners are solid and do not need to. be worked'
‘understand that the Manitoba vote-is taken. ‘Wire rep»
"We leave you to judge as to where he is to speak on. Sunday.
... Berg.” He understood that the vate of the Manitoba Unions °
"had been taken. In reply to that, Knight was going to Can-. __
more, but was willing to cancel that date if it-were thought
. “that he’ might do more good in Winnipeg, but ‘understood ©"...
‘the vote was taken. A'matter of explaining to the workers - -
“the new form of organization. The reply to that went back
from Russell to Berg: “Important that Joe speak here Sun-. - .
, day, Manitoba vote not taken.” That.is the slender bridge --
‘my learned friend, Mr. McMurray, told you had been-con- ~~
structed by the counsel for the Crown. -Knight. came here ~
and there was the sinister purpose, and these telegrams, --~-
gentlemen, I contend, upon the very face, show the reason. --~
for Knight coming here; but before ever Russell sent @.
_ telegram asking Knight to come here.to speak to the work- . ~
-ers, he sent a telegram on April 15th, that is the day before |. ~
that other telegram, to Midgley, Secretary ‘of. the Trades .-.":.-
~ and. Labor-Council, Labor Temple, Vancouver, B.C.: ‘Wire...
“at once if Pritchard can come to Winnipeg to address a meet~ ="
JURY ~. 189”
No Skt
ay all expenses. _
. The contention
reply. from:
hat, we con-. ~
‘have’ more
th, Midgley.”
Y> gentlemen,
had all these sin-~. .-
‘A some of the literature. . |
% to argue this, gentlemen, ~
s from all. over the Place— —
you-—and I am-going to argue, _
ass of stuff in front of you, when —
did they: get.in Queen’s house? Follow - .-
at did they get.in Heap’s house? What did '
y get in J Johns’ house? And even if it bé such a terrible.
( thing-yes, Yet’s admit it— what did they get in Pritchard’s"
“house? What did.they get-in.. Armstrong’ s house—Socialist ©.
' lecturer in Winnipeg? ere.is it, gentlemen? Here: in this ©
- court? Where do you firld it?:_What did they get in the ~
- houses of. the accused brought here together on trial. for:
_ this. conspiracy ? Practically nothing. And then,.all this ~
. matter: of correspondence alleged to be between different _
-- people brought in front of us, face to face with‘us, we have.” -
to deal. with correspondence and I can only deal with tHat -°
_ correspondence as I have tried ‘to deal with the literature. aa »
Ati is-a physical impossibility to éncompass it all. I-am going -*~
to, contend that it’ we. jake. a breach—if ' we make’ these ..
: ' ‘ co ~ : o
my ; ol ¢ “ter aa on - ye ae
wee . 1 . ” . on ww kt
Tt sO a . ~ a
: dereparable preaches i in the battlements of the Grown’ s fort:
-ress—we have established our case. Run over these. All
_
woe _wannrrgg Sten TRIALS
.
. these letters ‘have gone in: Letters alleged to’ be. from
Stephenson to Russell, April 9th, 1919. It says: “The oO. B.
. UW. is the only topic of. conversation - -here.-among comrades *
and Trades Unionists.’ It looks to us like an easy thing for -_
’ the Industrialists. _From all we_can-gather,; the Unionists -
—are voting : fairly solid in favor.” A man by the name of -- ©
‘ glasses; Stephenson replies, January 24th, on classes and
. “Mass meetings by Trades and -Labor Council and. the’
Forum.” You remember a little argument as to whether .
necessity for education. Then Lawson, Calgary, to Stephen-
son, January 28th,-1919, re Calgary. meetings, he says:
'- certain meetings at which I spoke. in Calgary were really
particular meeting was a meeting: of the Forum. Here,
.Heilingher; Ottawa; writes to Stephenson about - economic... - .
‘held under the Socialist. Party of Canada,-or whether this -
January 28th, 1919, Lawson writes to Stephenson about. .
meetings by the Trades and Laber Council and. the Forum,.
Russell, of. Edmonton, and the Rev. Irving, speakers, and in. .- ©
taking the letters at-great length as I did of Beattie’s gentle-
‘men, and explaining them, I. tried to demonstrate our posi-
tion with respect to this correspondence. And Stephenson...
‘ writes to a man.by the name ‘of: McGregor, of “Detroit,
‘March 3rd, 1919. He says: “Quite a number of our com-
rades are slated for the Western Congress ofLabor Unions, °°
to be held at Calgary next week and: wesintend using-them | -
to make a noise about the suppression: ‘of our ‘baper and |
- revolutionary. literature in general. It is a forlorn hope, ‘but
- We must -do-something. and we may-get some result from.
it.” And Stephenson writes to Heilingher—I am taking
random shots at passages in all this correspondence—“We:-
. are delighted to read you were successful in keeping the... .-
. educational classes going.”’ And Stephenson writes to a -
man by the name of Robinson, Winnipeg, March 28th, 1919:
“Could you prevail upon any comrade.in Winnipeg to write
;an article of an educational character,” and Heilingher ~
’ writes to Stevenson, March 30th, on the necessity of educa- . - ,
us
tion. Then there is a letter from W. A. P. to Russell, which
Mr. Andrews, used in his address to you, gentlemen of the
‘jury, and tried to make something out of it: “This burg is.
-ablaze' over discussion of-the new form of organization.”
‘One .Trades Unionist writing’ to another Trades Unionist . .
about Trades Union matters, that the burg was ablaze, that _.
. . : a : eoté 7 a) e ee .
= Th
we TS nn 9
~ . aa . sow e ete
"PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY ee: i
” is to say, ‘in Trades. Union circles this was. the main topic of ©
conversation.. Is-that what you would read in:it?.-The letter ©
“goes on. to say:. “The reactionaries are fighting: hard; but -
-we think we_have-the drop on them from now on.” Mr.
_ Andrews dramatically stated: “Think of ‘it; gentlemen, ‘we
have the drop to them now.’ ” The letter didn’t state that.
then turned it around right afterwards. The: reactionarks —
in the Labor Movement fighting. the. new form of organiza-
- ‘tion that we considered to be. more efficient,. more up-to-
m date, more in. keeping with. the needs of the times for the
purposes of the working class in their every-day fight over _
the bread and butter question, the réactionaries fighting’
against us; not “We have the drop on them noy,’” but “We
think we have, the drop on them from now on,” that is to
say we-had beaten them in the argument. Then W-A.P. to
e_letter_didn’t state we have. the drop_on:them:now. He __
‘had just read the-letter to you, quoted from the letter, and _.
‘Russell, March 25th, contains, business reférences to the _
O. B. U,, no reference to the Socialist Party of :Canada.
‘Then from Russell back to W.-A. P.,-March 31st, a letter
dealing with the O. B. U. and no reference: to the Socialist
Party of Canada. Then there-is a wire from Russell to‘a
.™man ‘named Thomas, which refers to the Federated Trades | :
‘and Railway Shopmen’s Disputes.. Then -there- comes one ‘...-
already referred to, from aman named Dickie to Russell.
that “I see.from the press reports” you are so-and-so and
so-and-so, and, gentlemen, here we stand accused of a com- . -
“= mon design, ‘conspiracy, common design and charged with..
-.-a number of overt acts as set-out in various counts of the
indictment which are presented as ingredients of that con='
spiracy. We find Ivens,; we will say, the Pastor of the so-
called Labor Church, a member ‘of the Labor Party, we find.
Queen, you’ heard Queen and his testimony, hé can “gpeak ~
for himself, Heaps; Armstrong, whom the:Crown contends’ "
is a. lecturer for the Socialist Party of Canada, Johns and -
- Pritchard working together-hand in hand, in common agree-
ment to ‘carry into effect a seditious intent. Midgley; Secre-.
tary of the Trades Council in Vancouver, March 31st, 1919, .
wT writing | to Russell, says: “Our local press is, of course,-giv- .
’. ing considerable space'to oppose the One Big. Union, and we
find that where formerly they used to object to ‘Foreign.
-Agitators,’ . as they used to term the International officers - - |
coming -over here, they are now slobbering all over them
and telling the public how necessary the International. 1 offic,
‘,
'- this man,Berg. You can go through that report of the Cak*
51920 i a a "WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
ers are to “the Labor “Movement.” n Old 3 man Kingsley" —
- referring. to some- person down in. Vancouver—“Kingsley =
<- igs bucking the new.movement from the. old~ ‘commodity: ;
struggle’ standpoint of the Socialist Party. of Canada;heand .
~ Armstrong would make a good pair. Yours-for- the O. B: -~
“ —and the DefenSe contends that the Armstrong referred . °
_cto_ in: that_correspondence_is_the same George-Armstrong——
~ here accused, and Russell replies to Midgley respecting this’. .
‘point that Midgley. raises about Kingsley bucking‘the new. .
movement. Midgley says that Kingsley:.and Armstrong. -
would/make a good pair and Russell writes back and he says: _
“Yes,/ Johns and I are going to debate the matter. with -—
. Armstrong and. Patterson. We think we can’ put it over’ -_
.. them? lis position is so punk.” Russell and Johns and my-.’ -
_ self: linked together hefe in this indictment -in -commion _
. design with Armstrong who with Kingsley: would make a.-
good ‘pair; Kingsley, who, is bucking ‘the new. movement,
’ and Russell says we are going to-debate with him (Arm-
. ‘strong) and we figure we can put it over -him, his position a
‘is so ,punk. Midgley writes t6 Russell, on April 21st, con-
‘cernihe that Japanese fan that they stuck in the “Western
Labor News”. here; you saw it, with the lines going all
_ out like the sun rising, division marks, and he says; “the ~.
Australian plans is .of doubtful - value”=can weet: ‘that °-
letter and see just what it is, I would like to deal with that “
at length. o Bho, ;
; " Then- a fellow in Edmonton by: the 1 name of Maquire’ -
writing to Midgley, on ‘April 24th. He says: “I know that |
‘at, present the O. B. U. is not organized.” “Then we come to :°
‘> gary: ‘Convention and you will find that thé committee that: . -:
- has been'spoken of, the committee of five, were elected by | -.
-. the general vote of the entire Convention and then it ‘was —.
decided for the purposes of carrying on.the necessary work
- In eaeh of .the provinces that the. delegates for Manitoba
. should meet-in a room, we will say downstairs; and, elect
. their own Provincial Committee, and the workers from .
_” Alberta should meet up in the gallery and elect their own. ©
- Provincial Committee and that the Provincial Committee’.
of the B. C: Federation of Labor would constitute the Com- _
' mittee of B. C.- Saskatchewan would do the same. Berg, |
along with others, was elected to the Alberta Committee by. ©
thes ‘votes’ " entirely of the Alberta delegation and. not. by ‘
Ms
“ PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS S TO. JURY _ i — 198.
. tho: votes of ¢ any 7 other part of that Convention. Berg turns".
-. out a paper which.is put in-here, dated April 4th, and read -:
"-with, gusto and used with delight by the Crown. Gentlemen, ;
just as I objected to some of that literature, which I claim.
_ to be father’s, I made’ an objection here. I did it sincerely ;..
you.can make your-minds up about that. I objected on the
—ground_that-a_1 wire_which I -sent_to_ Berg might help in’
clearing the situatiof- if’ the Crown would put it in.. Was”
there such a wire, “gentlemen ? Was I acting in good faith?
If there was a wire, -gentlémen, is it this wire that Berg
~ himself -refers. to/in: writing ‘to, some other. person, I just:
forget who it was. now—I'have it here in Exhibit 904. What -
did he say? Here it is: sWe consider ‘your article ‘Spectre
‘of Industrial Unionism,’ foolish i in issue of April 4th. Reads
like I. W. W. sabotage phi osophy.’”’ I went to great lengths‘.
- to explain to you what Ii meant by sabotage and told you
‘how I stood in opposition to it. ‘You will remember that I:.
_ .read that to you, gentlemen, éarly i in the trial. Mr. Andrews, ©
. in.dealing -with it in his address to you, said: “Yes, but -.
ritchard did not read the paragraph that followed. ” Twill *
-leave it to you, gentlemen, whether I did or-not on ‘that .
* occasion. IT am’ going to read it now and I am.-going to -
- emphasize the point in it.that Fried to emphasize on that.
occasion. -. Here. is the -paragraph that. follows: .“I got a.
‘letter today stating they were sorry ‘that I had taken the’
| telegram so seriously.” -He is very emphatic about the
wire, “here it-is,” and he quotes the words exactly, but he.
_ does not quote any -words from the letter, just. gives an.
impression. Throughout this man’s correspondence, you::
- will find he is sore. -He works ‘his spleen against what he
calls “his ballot ‘box friends,” and in that correspondence;
too, you will find that he took umbrage at the fact that he
--could not get and did not get his particular’ ideas worked: up
into-the constitution,of the O. B.-U. in the Convention in”
. June. He says: “They know that I-was working hard and ~
for the best of the movement, that they appreciated ” my.
- work and that they had told members of the Committee —
everywhere that if"we had two or three Bergs’ in’ every -
. province that it would not*be hatd-to win, but that they -
_did :think: at.the tines Aat_the article mentioned. was not *
good.” And then he Thakes® a kick, he does. not want to see .
the O. B: U.:- used as} a. cloak: for any political purposes. -
- Commences to accuse:people, he says: “I do tell you, Bill,.,
- -we have got to be on the lookout for any political moves ‘e
; . ay at a.
lo. | -—s WINNIPEG STR
“and we do not need to expec
refers to this copy of Rusself.
-hibit 908,.of May 9th, wri
-—Kolling: “I am sending you
> can-see that he has taken
’ the ‘Spectre of Industrial .
expelled by that bunch who
‘Then again, May 7th, Exh
has issued.a Bulletin and: th
. so forth—“Even the headin
say, and they have even co
_ dustrial Unionism’ and put it
people. I. wonder.if they wi
was published on April 4th. Bas
Ps copy of the wire on May 13!
April 4th and -May Ist, that -
_ Does.that show my intention?: I
when I deal with another piece of J
. its way here.. Hére is the letter in‘
the part I wanted to deal with on this
I call the “Japanese Fan”: ‘Wells.
-. diagram of the. Australian pla of orga;
‘ably. run it'in the next issue, but must 3S
-much about it. We have discussed-several
. idéa of drawing up somie*concise plan of org
_ also the idea of drawing a’‘diagram of the prop
of organization, but we always come back to the idea’
this new form of organization: is not something. that 1s
_going to be wrapped around the Labor Movement liké a
new. suit of clothes, it will necessarily be a matter:of growth
and you canno more draw the plan of the growth: of it than ,
you can draw a.plan of the growth of a tree. Conditions and-
- circumstances: will determine what form the. organization -
will. ultimately take.” .The Crown brings in a reported.
speech of Knight at the Miners’. Convention. Ido not want -
. to go over that, but, look over “the report of the Western —
Labor Convention, look over that report,. gentlemen, and -
you must ‘be forced to one.of two conclusions, the report is
either very badly taken or else the speaker was laboring
under some great excitement—-most peculiar grammar. The -
only thing that struck me in the address, a little more than’
usual, that he told you that from that report. Knight said:
“Tenine’ was a a Bolshevist, I have his works since 1903,” ‘and.
aed
- ADDRESS TO JURY = *,s195-
‘\ was a politician.” It may. have | .
-\do-not-know.—I read- “toyou at -*
. ephenson sends -to' Fillmore, ~
the -development of the Labor.
Ss as providing: véry valuable .°
t the conditions there more: ‘-
}nditions here than those ‘of*:~..
there is a létter the Crown
ey. contend is from a man ~~
_f; about the meeting or. the...
as no intention of holding.a_— -
| a few members took it'upon- ~~
other correspondence and they
s upon a piano. A fellow-by the
_fto Stephenson—there may be all
/ suppose at least half a,dozen. of -
fhe Dominion of, Canada. ° They may ~~
Beattie did (and I dealt at length :
jeri)., This fellow, Johnston, says on ©
, 1919: “It-is only. 4 question of ‘time *-:!
e] confident, a-time that is: ‘measured by: |
years, when the workers will havé-to make ~ -
{I bloody decision whether they" will remain .—
"oppression of the master class‘or secure their :
™m for all time.” That was used to great‘advantdge -'~"
the Crown. Their agents go into the houses and into’: -.
halls and seize this correspondence and literature. Gentle- --:’
men, where is Stephenson’s reply to that letter? It is mar- ~~.
..vellous that replies of. Stephenson to*two of the letters
_~ could be found; most marvellous that letters of Russell.and _ .
... replies to Russell’s letters could be found. Gentlemen, you’ ..
‘may understand what they say; can you ‘understand every:
word they do not say? Where is the reply of Stephenson to -.
that letter of Johnston’s, of January 20th, 1919? It is-not-’ . .
here. To one of two conclusions only then. can you come; — -. -
either that Stephenson -did not deem it nécessary:to.reply |<
to the letter, in which’case-it is robbed of the importance‘. |.
; given it by the Crown; or, if he-did, that the Crown’s agents
seizing these files of correspondence, finding, the letter, dis-
covered that they could not ‘use it and, consequéntly, wedo. §..
not find.it here. Then they say: “Oh, well, but you.could .
have introduced it as part of your defense. % But if a man
t
- 196 ee - ~ ‘WINNIPEG :STRIKE. TRIALS “* Foes
. comes: into. -your place and takes a “file. of your correspond- mF
‘ence, selects a few pieces for-his own. purposes: and that is - -
“: the last you see of it, what kind. of-logic is it then to-accuse -
" that.man‘of not using the rest ‘of the correspondence’ on’ ~. -
’. that file?’ That letter is not here. Either there never was’. .:
_an answer-to that letter, gentlemen, or else it was'an answer
—“such-as-might-possibly-have helped the defense in this case.*.
Stephenson writes to Johnston, that is the same Johnston,” =
_ later on inthe year, four months afterwards, April 2nd, _ ~
1919,.so the-correspondence:does not seem -to have been :
broken, -yet we cannot discover that missing link. Hereis* ~-
Exhibit 393, Stephenson to Johnston, April 2nd: I.told you,” -~
‘gentlemen, the correspondencedidn’t seem to be finished and." --
_ ‘it would appear that-Johnston must have sent another ‘of _
_ these blood=ctrdling letters to which Stephenson, in a letter, ".
-replies: ‘Give it time, social revolutions are bound: by their:™:. .
very nature to move slow.” “I dealt with those gradual. -
changes in human society, gentlemen— “So. we-must have ~"
. .patience-and saw wood.” And this-fellow, Hanwell, Exhibit: -
- 255, writes to Stephenson and he speaks of. the evolutionary.
%, ‘process in Europe and then he, too, like other workers, some’
of whom think that the time for political action has-passed, - -
-says:-“I cannot give-you the view of our other..comrades:.-; .;
=: here.” In reply to that, Stephenson says the working Classes. -
_--have to make a-big’ jump mentally. A big jump | mentally.!
'. That is to say, there must be a change in the ideas’ of ‘the :
‘majority of the workers in order to be able to. convince the --,
majority of the people that our programme or tactics‘are:
- -correct. He goes on: “We are -still corresponding with
- Ottawa onthe matter of the “Clarion,” trying-to get themto °:
specify in what we have offended, but so far without re-.. |
* sults, evasive replies all the time. ” Then: this rather wild- :°~
’ veyed. revolutionist of, December, Ist, 1918,. Hanwell; writes... -
- to Stephenson. He says: “I certainly. enjoyed the trip ' to - —
. Calgary. It sure is a treat to meet so many ‘comrades.:.. ©.
' Whether the time is ready for the One Big Union is:a-matter..:
which only time. will tell. If we-judge things from-these ©:
‘ small places,. there -sure would be no hope.. There seems. -
- . so few that are able. to watch the great.events. that are. ~_
'. taking’ place so rapidly in the world’ and understand them.”.. -.
~-. So that-this great: revolutionary enthusiast of December,” ..
_ 1918, when he got to March 27th, 1919, was not even sure _-
df the oe ‘was ripeyfor ‘an 1 Industrial Organization Tike the: oo
“
: in - oo . ae wore LD
“ PRITCHARD'S ‘Appates TO. goRY Pa “397
. - Here’ ig “another letter ‘that the Crown made qiite a a
tot: ‘about™ and you will notice, “gentlemen, it, is. very. face
2+ tious, very. ‘Heilingher -writes to ‘somebody, to\Bennetf, ae
man by the name of Bennett; Vancouver, June ‘4th, "1919,
He says: “I suppose we will know w_when. . the revolution_(?
“commences. I am anxiously awaiting -and doing my little
' bit towards it-by enlightening the-slaves’I ‘can.- Somehow: . ;
-or- other I'am too pessimistic. I wish it came.already and":
- not make me wait. The freaks—~(He refers to those “othier.
fellows that:disagree with him as “Freaks’?)—“the:’ freaks
_ -we have around here are. aure of.the Canadian. revolition:-
' In'a month. Can you see it come? Wire mé, please, if you’-*
see it come from your direction. The slaves dre quite con-.:.
_ tent’ with the latest increasé in pay and promised cight:
. hour day in the sweet bye and bye: Some few machinists”.
_are.on strike, but who bothers and why- should anyone that ~
. do not: belong to our’ Union..-Some slave. solidarity; eh?. .-
_ Much chance here for the 0. B..U:?” The whole ‘trend. of:
” that letter shows that fellow ig * dealing. with, the: thing. -
- facetiously.. 3 :
Ce, I have not dealt * very much at, all, “geritlemen, with: ‘the: “
» Winnipeg, strike. Mr. Andrews, in his. address, said that’T-".
‘did not appear. here myself until after June 10th,.and-the-.
- evidence has shown that these. men were: arrested ‘in, the:
early. morning. of June 17th. ‘I was afrested’ afterwards: “80
. that I-must-have left Winnipeg: before June ‘17th.: Youcan
. “please . yourselves as to how. long you think : was . there:
-.There is the evidence, sae into Winnipeg some’ time after
oF -ealled Labor Church along with ie Rev. wes
"Brandon; and J. S. ~Woodsworth; of ‘Vancouver. ere
orate ead ee
‘T. wait to ‘make’ thts point clear;: gentlemen, respecting
oy {these men that.‘go to-meetings and take notes and then
& come: back.the next day and’write them ‘down. “And: that.”
; feport; of Sergt. Reayies, who, seemis.to have, been the -head ” .
of the| Intelligence Department in. Winnipeg; and who- went; : 2.
+ around: to Mr. Ivens’ meetings and took notes of. what: was. t
said, took-notes of other meetings. And ‘what did he- say?
“In ‘Volume Oné, Page ‘87; of the Preliminary Heaging:- ‘Byvi
derice, ‘in: so far. as his, report deals with the Labor. Church=
“meeting ‘of April 6th, - 1919: te was not very interestin as’
- 8S a _- WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS a
~ - far as I was ; concerned (Page 100). I ‘wrote down- the most: _
: objectionable”’ mee _
“MR. ANDREWS: Was “that evidence giver here? -
MR. PRITCHARD:. That. was: out - of Se st: “Regmes’
__yeport, = a
MR. ANDREWS: Tite -accused, 1, My Lord-\perhaps he -
- doesn’t know. he. shouldn’t do it—is’ referring.” evidence’.
given ‘by Reames.at the Preliminary. Investigation. ~
HIS LORDSHIP: No, he. cannot . dovit.--" a
MR PRITCHARD: My Lord;- -if Reames’ gave evidence ~
. . Of -a. written report in the Preliminary Hearing; I would -
"> fake: it it would be,the same report that he would give in.”
‘evidence inthis case: It is a- written report. of a,meeting. —
~< “He surely would riot have a written: report for. the Prelim-
jnary Hearing and then come and-read another report of a
different kind in giving evidence here. at ao
-HIS LORDSHIP: If. the depositioris of the Police Court ~~
“are. filed, if they are-in, if they are part of the evidence in ©
this case, all right, but if they are not made. part of the : .
evidence: in the-mannet Jprescribed by Law, they -are not .
“* evidence at all. Sometimes the depositions of the Police coe
; -Court. are put. in through- the process of the court. ue
:s | -MR. PRITCHARD: Before I proceed, My Lord, I would -
; “Tike ‘to be clear-on this: I understand that Volume Three ~~:
- of the evidence at the Preliminary Hearing is in asS.an o- .
. Exhibit’ in this case. I have it down: here as Exhibit 694. -
- My. ; notes may not be correct.
. HIS LORDSHIP: It may be in'ds an “Exhibit” we a
, MR. ‘PRITCHARD: ‘There are 1, 010 Exhibits. , a
"HIS LORDSHIP: That would be 1,011.
MR. PRITCHARD: “Perhaps | my learned. friend; “Mr.
.Andrews, can assist me in that. - ‘ .
a MR.. ANDREWS: Where I think “Mr. Pritchard.’ is
“under, perhaps, a misunderstanding of the fact, there was. |
certain evidence put in which was found in that volume. ~.
‘It was not torn out, it was read to the jury'and as read was,
_. taken ‘down in the reporter’ Ss notes shere; I presume.’
aan
~ PRITOHARD'S Annes TO roy | ee
aw HIS. ‘LORDSHIP: ‘The depositions were not reat
_— MR. ANDREWS: ' The depositicns. -
: HIS. -LORDSHIP: That. may - ‘Have. ‘covered the ‘part *
- Pritchard wants to get out now. - tent
- MR.. ANDREWS: No, My Lord, “Reames: “was-a wite :
ess called on this, trial. He. is reading ‘from Reames’ depo-' 7
sition, :
‘HIS ‘LORDSHIP: “But- if Reames . was ‘called « on “trial;
"there is‘a, way in: which the. Police Court: depositions may
“have been put in.’ 7 Oe “¢
. MR: ANDREWS: Tey was not.‘
*MR: PRITCHARD:: .As I recall it; My Lord, “Sergt.-
Reames read from his report ‘to refresh his memory and | -
_ then gave it out to the court, in fact, afterwards, he: was. -
, practically allowed to: read. from that report. - coos
| HIS LORDSHIP: These were nét putin, FS
MR: ‘PRITCHARD: He. gave it as: evidence, My: Lord.
” HIS - LORDSHIP: But ‘the’ actual ~reports; -T do “not™ *
think, were put in, . because ° “Mr. Andrews’ could not put Le
. them in. wo
“0: MR, PRITCHARD:. J understand inat,. My Lord, ‘but ota
. “this is my-position. If he read from: ‘those reports right.)
‘ along, read.from those reports, then the very reading f from... 7
those reports made. it-evidence.
-HIS LORDSHIP: ‘Made what?
MR. PRITCHARD: What. fe. said. . . re
‘HIS LORDSHIP: What he said. would be evidence, yes.
"MR. PRITCHARD: My. contention i is, My Lord, that he:
- said this from these- -reports, from the notes that. I have.: ;
made. My. recollection. i is that he said- these things - ‘from, -
; these reports. sO i ne
. HIS LORDSHIP: “You are perfectly: ‘right i in saying he.”
had those reports here and he was referring to those reports. *
-MR. PRITCHARD: My ‘recollec ion is, My Lord, I have:
. not been able t to- eet copies of the evidence 1 run off, but my-:: 7
2
200 ', WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
' recollection is that’ these items that I have taken down in
". my notes were given by him after reading from -his notes
and then it was stated to the court’as evidence. That.is my
position, My Lord, that.I am taking it as evidence given at
_ this trial.
_ Ys LORDSHIP: Mr. Andrews said something to, me.
_ about the Police Court. - .?
~MR—ANDREWS+The-accused said— ay -am reading ————
from the depositions taken at the Police Court.” He was .
reading. something which manifestly would not be in this
- sreport. It was a remark apparently supposed to have been —.
». made when in the box at the Police Court. as to the nature -
. ‘of the evidence he had taken down.
HIS LORDSHIP: You. cannot read from the Police - .
Court ‘depositions unless the depositions themselves. were
_, put in. It may be hard to understand, but that is a fact. ~
. MR. PRITCHARD: Still, I have down here “Bxhibit. a
694,- -Volume Three of the Preliminary Evidente, - Judge’s :
a
a
F. MR. QUEEN: I understood, My Lord, that Volume _
Three of the-Preliminary- Evidence went in as an Exhibit.
call HIS LORDSHIP; ‘The records. will T show, Ido not ‘Te:. oS
it: .
MR. PRITCHARD: This is a copy of the record I have, .
My Lord, so T am instructed.
HIS LORDSHIP: I ‘could not keep track of ‘everything :
done in this trial, I leave that to counsel. I have here, Num-
ber Three, it js marked as an. Exhibit, I do not know why.
~- MR. ANDREWS: It happens: that the evidence of the : .
first witness that was read was contained i in Volume Three. .
. HIS LORDSHIP: I do not know why. You had better
get the notes. Apparently that whole book was an Exhibit.
_ we PRITCHARD: That was my understanding, My.
ord.
MR. ANDREWS: ‘Perhaps this ‘will recall it to Your
Lordship’s mind. It was necessary for us to prove-a-copy - *- |
; ‘of the evidence that was given by the witness, I think kit Se
a
Sue
" PRITCHARD’S. ADDRESS TO JURY , 20h
was Mr. Parnell, and i in order to prove that we 2 read a copy
from that volume arid at the end is found a certificate of,
the magistrate referring to the contents of the document. :
HIS ‘LORDSHIP: As it that book that is marked as.
an Exhibit. -
. MR. ANDREWS: The book should not ‘be in; “what
= sghould—have been marked_was_Edward Parnell’s evidence:_
_ which appears in it. That is what was read. As a matter-~
. be fact, the Crown would not object to having | the whole. -
ook in. -
“HIS LORDSHIP: Without the record, I cannot tell.
anything about it. Get the reporter’s notes.- .
MR. ANDREWS: The defense would never have per- é
mitted us to put in this volume of evidence.’ ‘
MR. PRITCHARD: My. misconception has a arisen trom.
the reading of the record. - .
. “MR. QUEEN: Did Mr. Andrews say: the defense would
not allow him to put it in as evidence? _
. HIS LORDSHIP: There was an awful’ fight about put.
'-., ting in something that is in that as evidence. __
- _- MR: QUEEN: The defense .knew that the ‘whole ore
Volumé Three was going in, if Mr. Andrews: didn’t know,
and they” saw it go im.
“HIS LORDSHIP:. Get the’ reporter's notes; “You at
Y probably find out as to what went in. un
i+ MR. ANDREWS: Your: Lordship knows how dificitt *
"_~it is to get the reporter’s notes; probably by the time, the..
- trial is over we will find out.- Your Lordship can see at once“
~it was not admissable as evidence, could not have been with:
out.the consent of all the accused and the matter was never
under discussion at all. They objected ‘to the “evidence even
of- Parnell. - :
. - MR.. QUEEN: I. ‘emember that, 00, ‘but Your Tox $
. ship will remember thé objections were -all :over-ruléd. ., :: =
- HIS LORDSHIP: Tf T- had the’ reporter's: notes I. could
‘find out what the record was. Iam not going to hear argues
ad
7) a _ WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS |
- ments or waste. time on ite. You certainly. ‘could’ not: put it”
_in if there was objection to-it. Mr. Andrews’ certainly had:
“no- right to put it in, but things sometimes get in n without : - .
- any, right. . : a,
‘MR. ANDREWS: "We can very shortly settle this if the |
‘accused now say that they consent to this being treated ass
_ evidence, I will be very glad.- .
-HIS-LORDSHIP-: —Well;-some- of the accused are not =
. here; they might claim. a mis-trial on that very point. If - os
they "want.to mark as an Exhibit something, they have not --
a right to put in, I cannot watch.
‘MR. PRITCHARD: it might be possible, My Lord, #f. «© .
a
_ Counsel for the Crown would agree that Sergt. Reames -
read his report as evidence in thjs case, that would allow =. 2"
me to continue my argument .wiphout’ bothering any fur-° - <
‘ther. It is just a matter of making some agreement 80 that .
I can go on..
HIS LORDSHIP: If he read his report it would goin.
as evidence. ~ .
> MR.. ANDREWS: Part: of Reames’ evidence is con-
_tained in Volume One, and part in Volume Three. °
’ MR. PRITCHARD: The part I want to use, My Lord,
is Volume Three, which is marked. on the record .as an
- Exhibit, and I am not worrying about Volume One.
HIS LORDSHIP: The book opght not to be in: It is.
placing evidence against the accused the Crown has no.
right to place against them; anyone could object to it.
--MR: ANDREWS: There were’ at least six. witnesses!” |
called at the Preliminary Hearing who are not called-as’- - |
‘witnesses here, evidence which was not given, here..
HIS LORDSHIP: Yes, if. the book is in as evidence,.-
the whole book, it is absurd. The- Crown had no right to put. -- . -
in as evidence in this case, matter taken at the Prelimin- ~= = -.-
‘ary Hearing. You, however, could get it in if you want it
‘in the course of the trial, but for the Crown to put-it'in -
would be absolutely unfair. I would never have allowed-it: | -
‘The only way the Crown can get the evidence taken at the-
Preliminary Hearing in here is-to show that: the party. who :
PRITCHARD'S, ADDRESS TO JURY ot. 208-7
gave ‘evidence is beyond ' our border. or r too ill to attend the -
province. 9:
“MR. PRITCHARD: All those considerations operate,
3 My Lord. ‘My understanding was-that Mr. Andrews was wil- ©
_ ling that we should refer to any- part of the Preliminary ;
; Hearing evidence that might assist us.
“HIS LORDSHIP: ‘Oh, no, no, ‘that. could not be because .
we-could-not-allow- you-to -refer_to-that-and-not-allow-him to—
refer to it. Of any understanding, there is no trace on-my..
mind at all.’ It: would have. left a trace because it is the.
first: time I ever heard of it being:done...I do not know what :
. points you’ are trying to make. I will allow you.to. tell: us.’
what, points you are trying to make, I will allow you to tell.
ra
MR.. PRITCHARD: ‘I would not like to do that, My.
Lord, m ‘front. of the jury.: If:I were to tell:you the point.
I was trying to make, I would not proceed any further. If
Your Lordship would like to see the point I want to make,
then. I would like’ to show it to Your Lordship.
op “HIS ‘LORDSHIP: Do you want to show that: he e read
this: in the Police Court?
MR. PRITCHARD: I want to: show the genéral atti-
: tude, the lengths. to which these men go to collect evidence...
- 7 HIS LORDSHIP: ‘Do you want to use the evidence
. "- given.in the Police Court? -.
- MR. PRITCHARD: T want. to use ‘the words. that he.
shad in his official report which he used in the Police Court.
-HIS LORDS :, Well, if you want. that book. in-—as ’
I said before I do wot “want any argument” about it, there is.
_ ‘axecord and the record will show what is in. I. am through .
‘with it, I am tired of trying’ cases where I cannot: find out*
what is being ‘done.
MR. " PRITCHARD: My’ Lord; I tecognize the ati °
culty: in this case-in all this: vast amount of Exhibits, but -
if -my- colleagues are in agreement that this: should. £0 in, _
-. + that was the understanding, they thought it was in, -so I |
‘do.not see why they should object now when it depends "
-
“upon their assent.
_
al
204 ' . WINNIPEG STRIKE. TRIALS | .
1 Tey
HIS ; LORDSHIP: ‘Unforemishtr ‘Ammitrong is ‘not here .
and Heaps is not here. |
_ MR.. QUEEN: It was my miderstaniding” ‘ail along: that :
"Volume Three was in and while Mr. Andrews was addressing |
the jury I understood he could have made reference to this,” -
>Volume three, that it was at his disposal. -
. HIS LORDSHIP: I do not want to have any more argue:
* ment. about it; I will. get the reporter’s notes and find outs:
No doubt, Mr. “Andrews said what he was putting in and no
doubt the reporter has it. Iam not going to decide the thing
on what one-man understands. It-would be an unheard of ©
thing to allow him to refer to that. ;
; MR. PRITCHARD: If Your: Lerdship would allow. it,
. I would leave this point, let it g0,<atid if we consider it neces- —
sary to come back to it, then, ‘if wé discover the-reporter’s
notes or ‘anything, we can. do so. I do not want to waste any
’ valuable time in this fashion.
»
++ HIS LORDSHIP: Very well.
“MR. PRITCHARD: Now, gentlemen’ of the » jury, YT have
: tried to give you, in a more or less haphazard fashion, some
of my views. I have tried to explain to you some of my
actions; have tried to show you a little of the history of the
_ Trades Union ‘and the Socialist Movements; I-haye tried: to.
“deal, to some extent, with certain parts of the literature;
I have gone -into points in connection with the Socialist
Party of Canada; I have taken-you over the charter applica- —
tion form for new locals, where the men signing that form .
(or the women) subscribed to a pledge by which they said
_ they would. maintain and enter into no relations with any
other political party, that they would.support by voice, vote.
and all other legitimate means the ticket and programme
__ of the Socialist Party of Canada; I have gone through vari-
“ ous parts of this evidence to show our standing with respect.
to parliamentary action and that. it surely is not our fault,
gentlemen of the jury, if we have not.put up any candidates =
_ since the last election. I have tried to show as clearly as I
can-what we mean by the words, “Class Struggle,” ‘the fight +. ._
that goes on all the time; what we mean by the term, -“Revo- °
lution,” and you might ‘recall the quotation that I gave to. .
*~ you from Ingersoll: “To teach-the alphabet is to inaugurate: .
. a revolution.” . You tight be able to understand the ‘term : ~~:
’
"_. “PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY. . > - -.. 205°
“better when you take it in conjunction.with that quotation .
- “. from Ingersoll.: You remember Mr: Ivens quoted Wesley as
Saying: “The world is my parish.” I could quote Paine, .
- Thomas Paine: “The world is my country, to do good is my ~
religion, the time to be happy is now-and the “way to be
happy is to try and make others happy.” Those terms that
have been picked out here and there by the distinguished
counsel for the-Crown, “Class consciousness,” “Class-strug-
_gle,’etc., appear in other works on the subject; they appear
’ ~ even in-the matter that I read from Dr. Bonger’s remark-
- able: work, “Criminality afd Economic Conditions.” - And -
what do we mean after all, gentlemen of the jury, by “Class -:
struggle’? A-‘fiight, a struggle, between classes. You could
not imagine a cat struggle without it were a struggle be:
tween cats.. We contend that in the great system ‘of pur-
’ chase-and sale, everyone-who sells wants to sell of what he .
has to sell as little for as much “as possible and everyone’
' -who buys, wants to buy as much as possible for as little as ~
__-. possible, whatever the commodity may be that is up for sale.
'.. We contend that the workers as-they. offer themselves for -
_ wages by the hour, by the day, by the week, by the month,
* are selling something, ~selling their energy, the only thing .
- they have for sale}. buta
as they sell that energy collectively .
- through their Trades Union, like everyone else who sells _ -
- something, they desire to -sell as Jittle of that energy for
-as.-much as possible; and: the master who buys that energy ~
wants to buy as much of that energy for as little as possible, * '
so that between those two bodies or classes with those con-
' tending opinions, with those conflicting views, there arises -
' --this struggle, the struggle between those who buy labor |.
‘ -power and those who sell labor power. The struggle between _
. ¢lasses—class struggle—just-as you get.a struggle between — |
those who sell.eggs and those who buy. eggs. It. may not.
- - appear upon the surface, but down-beneath it exists just the: -.
‘‘game.”In'this respect, when we come to-deal ‘with the nature -:.
-of the Trades Union Movement, it is possible that the gentile. © \-
men who represent the Crown in this case might not take -~
* WSany statement from me on this point without the weight of —
‘. the authority of some eminent: member of their craft. I
__” want to refer them to Sir James Stephen’s “History of.the.-...
' Criminal Law of England,” (Vol. three, Chapter 30, page ~~
218) where speaking of strikes.he says: “Every strike is in.- .
.. the nature of an act of war; gain on one side implies loss -‘*.
on the other.” -Sir James Stephen.on strikes! - Where you :*-
7 we
206 WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS 5
3 4 - x
have buyers of labor o on one, side and sellers on , the other,
you find ‘a conflict of interests. A’ strike, I suppose, gentle-
men, is what the counsel for the Crown would call an overt
-act—L don’t know—in this conflict of interests. Yet, because
someone writes a letter to somebody else saying we must ~
get in all the-propaganda we can,.twenty-four hours in the
- day, somebody: else writes to somebody else with their no-
tions, the Crown collects all these little things, puts them
together ‘and then tell you,. gentlemen, _that_we_spent—our
time preaching class hatred. When Mr. Andrews made one’
of his ‘strong points, he decldimed dramatically: “It is a
foul lie;” when he says we preach class hatred, gentlemen, -
I tell you that is a deliberate misrepresentation. Again, . -
from Sir James Stephen’s “History of the Grintinal Law of
_ .England,’’. (Volume three, page 208) he says: “In the pro-
ae
eess of time,” (this is referring to the regulations and Laws
re wages and places of residence of certain laborers and _
mechanics) “In process of time this became inconsistent--
with the altered circumstances of society.” -(The very thing
I have been trying to bring to your minds here for the last .
two days: “Altered circumstances of society,” altered by.
the very fact.that.the production processes themselves have.
continually ‘undergone alteration, because that. machine
changes all the time; that they themselves have changed
_-and the circumstances of society have been altered by
' virtue of the fact.that the means by. \ which - -society, lives. -. -
have been altered.
. Now, gentlemen, after two days from 10 in 1 the morn-
7 ing until 10 in the evening, I am beginning to feel a’ little
brain fag. You may be in the same position. I would have -
liked, and I think I-would have been able to do. it had it ©
been possible’ within the confines of physical endurance, to
- have gone minutely #ver. every scrap of this’ stuff here,.
- but I find it carinot be done. I will have to leave you. with
the points that I have been able to establish.. Gentlemen,
. you may have been in a vaudeville- show, you: may have
- gone to a circus; you must have seen the.acrobat on the
trapeze | throwing . himself: through the air from one bar.
to another, turning - somersaults, cool, confident, catching .
. himself by hig.toes, while the audience is held spell-bound:
‘does it naturally, without any worry, without any trouble,
‘without the slightest hesitation. Habit, gentlemen, -habit,
training, ‘the doing of. those things day after day, until he ”
”
an a _PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY. 207
does it just like rolling of a slog, just as the saying is, does it
_ as naturally as a.man rolling off a log. Training, training.
‘of the mind, does not worry about it. Suppose I were to go
. down onto one of your farms'and I-took the lines of your.
team of horses, gentlemen, I would be in a terrible position
. and you would take-me off the rig and you would take the
_ limes and the thing-would go along all right. Habit, gentle-
- men; training. If I was on the box I would be spending more .
—— mental energy-trying-to-concéntrate-on that-business- than—
‘you need to do, because. you were used to it. That is what.
- we- mean, “used. to it,” that.is what we mean by habits of
thought, you -have become used to it. Why, you would take
those lines and you would not think about it and yet would
- not make a mistake. I-would take those lines and would be .
- doing nothing-else but thinking about it and I would be in
trouble all the time, and so with the acrobat. If I went. out
-on the trapeze.in the air and turned a couplé of somersaults ;
and tried to get my. toes on the bars across on the.other *
- . side of the ring, I would break my neck, my relatives pos-
- gibly would break the ten commandments and a lot of other ~
. things would be broken. What is the meaning: of that? .
Habit, habit!’ Why. -have Ixtold: you this? I want you to .
come back again to that box, that witness box; I want you
_ to.come back ‘again to the’ testimony of ‘an individual who :
' said he had been‘sent into a certain district in the ‘closing
‘days of the year 1918 and right up until October, of 1919, he:
had trained like you until you: had learned to drive horses, .
until you-do it naturally; he had trained like a trapeze ar-
tiste in the circus until the performance could be done easily, .
“naturally, without the ‘slightest ‘hesitation. Fora period of
over nine months, according to his own words, he had turned .
the somersaults, figuratively speaking; he had lied .day
_ after day, day after day, whenever he considered it neées-'
. gary. Gentlemen,. ‘if I.drove horses day after day, day. after ..
. day, for nine months, I could go onto your farm and I could
‘drive horses as naturally as any man.’ And if I lied day
after day, day after day, as often as I.considered-it neces-. -
sary, gentlemen, believe me or believe me not, I think the
-habit.would grow’ upon me until I.would not: know whether .
’ I was lying or not even if I were in a witness box and under ~
oath. . Habit, habit, ‘habit—system of thought. Are- ‘you
going to tell me that a man that lied every day consistently
for nine months could.suddenly pull himself out of that rut
and tell you: “I am telling the truth now.” Do you believe
‘
B ;
208 . . : “Simmivrze STRIKE TRIALS:
it possible for any “human mind; if so, it is a marvellous 7
‘human mind. I told you when I came across that one point
_ in these Exhibits, the war between France and Austria, in’ .
1859, what did it mean to me? Perhaps nothing in passing."
Remember that the individual that I am referring to stéted
‘that he came from Piedmont. He knew that half the popula-
tion of Trieste, in Austria, spoke Slavic, yet, he had never -
~been there. He was buttr éssed and bulwarked on every side.
——First-of-all-he-receives- -exemption-from-an officer-under-the—
‘Military Service Act; then he receives papers as a registered °
alien, an Austrian,-so that he would not be troubled by ..
_ Dominion officers looking for draft evaders. You know where
Piedmont is, gentlemen. It kas been referred to, aptly, as
the, other éend of France. France often. has.gone to war .
with Ausjria over certain Italian claims and the matter of.
what ts known as the Italian Irridenta and the Austrian.
Tyrol. Trieste district has made cause for war between
‘France and Austria more than once. In-that war, of 1859,
the battle frontier was Piedmont and for years,. gentlemen, ;
> that backward and forward movement of military in a state
* of active warfare has gone on over that particular district,
and wherever you get-a-district which is nothing moreé‘nor -°
less than-a perpetual frontier of war you raise a population .__,
that leans first to one side and then to the other, according
_ .to circumstances. Out of these.very conditions of:life there
‘is bred-a people who themselves must resort to lying-and.. 7 ;
who are made cunning.and sharp by the very conditions in’
which they find themselves: A nation of liars and perjurers ©
arise. Do you.remember that Mr. Zaneth admitted that the -
‘Italian name for-Zaneth was Zanetti. Why,. gentlemen? I.
- can tell you. Can you imagine an Italian, without it-be one
. that left his country early in-life; who can properly pro-
‘nounce'the “T-H, Zaneth, Zanetti, he admitted, was his real
_name,.and then ‘he turned round and said that his father |”
had changed his name to Zaneth when-he was a baby and he
did not know: what it was all about, yet he knew that. half.
- the population ,of Trieste spoke the mother language; al-
though he had’ never. been there. I am not going to- deal.’
with that evidence any further. I think, gentlemen of the : 7
jury, I.can leave that to you, but there: has been brought in-. .
to this case.a pamphlet. I had to go through this. carefully.
right here.* Were I acquainted: with the document, I would -
not have needed to have spent the time going’ through it. .-
’ Here is the collection of evidence, gentlemen, so many. copies _
wee : -
aoe
woe - we y
PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO JURY — . | 209.
of this, so many copies of that, "So many: letters, Sso° many
pamphlets, so-many papers, brought in a-heap and out of
this collection of. matter from the Atlantic seaboard to the
Pacific slope, the Crown produced one copy_of one pamphlet,
-- “Social General Strike,” written by some fellow or other
.. and published ‘in New. ‘York:and'I have looked: through it.
‘| You will remember in the telegram to Berg: about I. W. W.
‘Sabotage Philosophy, the pamphlet I have here is what-I -
would. call Syndicalist nonsense. It is” brought in” here against
‘ seven men, one copy only, gentlemen, could they find in the
‘- ‘whole Dominion of Canada. Where did they find it? Now-
let us see. Let us follow ‘some of the tactics ‘used: by the |
- agents-of the. Crown. Remember the ‘little discrepancy. of °
... Zaneth, between the 25 or 30 rifles and the .one. thousand’
’ rifles, and did you notice that almost always those conver-
’ satioris that.this-gentleman had were in the nature of dia--
. ‘logues, generally speaking; he was always talking to some
_ other fellow; .He. said Kavanagh said something: to him in
- my presence as.a number of delegates’ were going back to’
Vancouver. from- the Western Conference. Look through’
that report, gentlemen, and you will. find quite a-number.
from. Vancouver at that Conference and they Were going *
- ‘back honie.~ Yow can.imagine them just saying: “Well, so
. long, fellows,” to. whoéver they may have known there: in
* Calgary. Remarkable, isn’t. it, that out of that vast col-
°'-Jeétion ‘of delegates going» ‘back home that this individual -
' should have spoken to Kavanagh in my presence. Why not.
in the presence of any one or any two or any ten of the
‘rest of the delegates going back home? Gentlemen, I do not’
want to: labor ‘that; you can believe it-or believe it not as:
‘testimony as to. what Kavanagh said. Here is.this individual
. who told you that he had ‘an I. W. W. card. :I.do not ‘care.
- “where he got it from, gentlemen of the jury. He claimed
--that-his superior officer. gave it to him. and. -had taken, it’
‘off another-man who had been in gaol for a day or two ‘and
- that‘he,; himself, scratched out the other fellow’s name and.
put his‘own name on there. Did he?. You can believe him if.
+; you will. You can imagine in a. thousand different ways as’
' ‘to-where he got that I. W. W. card; or you may -recognize,.as |
even other people recognize, as I recognize, that the I.-W. W.-
position. -and.the I.W.W: philosophy creates the finest breed--
. -ing ground for. stool. pigeons ‘and spies. Why did he‘carry an*
-- I WeW. card?. What was the object? Don’t you know,.gen-.
; tlemen, that “the Law of this country at. that time was, Such,
~-
rs) WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS -
~ o rey
that the L W: Ww. -was 5 suppressed - -ané: that: anyone: “found. i
carrying a card was liable to penalties, and here he was in —
‘plain clothes, running around every day in ‘the week.and . -
lying as often as he considered it necessary, packing a card
‘of. the:1:.W. W. For what purpose, gentlemen, for what
: - purpose? Was it so that: perhaps he might get some poor. —
_ misguided worker to tell him:..‘‘Yes, I think that is the -: —
“organization that we should join.” Use your.judgment on —
!
.°
this, gentlemen. - Do you think he-just-packeéd-that-l.-W._W,..
card in his pocket and as he met workingman after work- ” .
ingman, never used it, never said. anything about it, never.
attempted: to induce, those with whom he'came in contact
‘to join with him in that organization ? And the Crown uses:
. this one:copy of this pamphlet;. “Social General Strike.”
Where'did they find it? They found it, as the evidence says, ©
-in the Socialist Party hall, in (Calgary. ‘I Jet it-go at that.
-literature, gave lots 0
: considered it necessa
ay
. when ‘he thought,of the wonderful: achievements of this, ae
The gentleman. that carri e-I. W. W. card: sold lots of |
Sevatues. away, lied as often as he. -
-every hour in the day, and appar- <
ently had ‘access to all \kinds. of. workingmen’ s homes, -had°-
- access’ to that Socialist hall and said: in the box that he was .
-: at every -business meeting of the Socialist Party of Canada,
a man packing around an I. W.-W. card and carrying liter-:
ature here and carrying literature there and reporting day .
after, day to*his officer commanding.’ Gentlemenfi do you
think that-it would be possible for him to go and put the —
only one copy that-could be found in the Dominion of Can-
ada—for such a man to'take one copy of that pamphlet him- - 7
“ self—and put it in a place where he. or his officer command- - - °
‘ing could go and find it? Do you. think’that- possible? If -
you do, draw your own-corclusions. Habit, gentlemen, grows
upon every.man. A man working at a machine, say a lathe,
- day after day can work that lathe, and becomes, by ‘habit,
part of that machine, and the man that lies every time. that _ a
_ he- considers: it necessary for. the greater part of a year, ..
" must have become so accomplished in the fine art that even ©
the illustrious Ananias must have rolled over. in his grave
his modern prototype.
"We have: come before you, gentlemen; ‘we ‘flave tried.
’. ‘to show you a little of what kind of men we.are; we have
triéd to go into: some of this literature; we have tried to _ aes
explain some of the terms; we have- dealt with: resolutions ° :
v1
passed in other.places and passed by the workers in Britain;
_ we have shown you that the. stand that the-workers took --
' reggxding-“intervention.or non-intervention ‘in Russia .wis>
similar to the stand being taken by the workers i in the Old .
‘Country, -by other people in: different walks of life and I .
‘have tried.to show you in my humble way as a workingman,
a 7 PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS TO gory ; op San
passed in “different places: ‘and: explained them; + we “have: :
‘ shown that those resolutions were similar to resolutions .-
wife and family,.a hard enough task, that.at the same time,
. thing is always changing, ever growing, the hens - laying
the eggs and hatching them out and the chicken growing, ‘up
and i was driven to the conclusion. that history. is a process
of change.’ Have. we now reached a full stop? I have heen - .
driven to the conclusion; gentlemen, that as that machinery
therefore, cheaper. And we go on from day to day while the
products of these. vast machines pile up’ finally. upon the .
+. world’s market and cause’ what’ .we know. as-crises;, crises -
. known as over-production, ‘commercial crises, industrial de- -
_ ‘pressions; and as you follow the development of that ma-.
chine during:.the- last. century, from 1825 onward, thése -
*-erises, ‘you will have observed, have occurred more frequent-
“dy all along the. line and have become more violent one after-
+
‘the, other in their character, so that it-now ‘becomes pos-
. sible in a shorter length of time to clog the world’s. markets
_.-with commdities than it was before and that; consequently,
. there: stands i in front of human society today a problem as to.
what id to™ become of that machine, as to. whether or-not’~
' there is a change. coming in human affairs; whether or not .
' sometime in the future instead of reckoning’the greatness ‘:
-of a man according to the amount that he can take from ::
‘society we shall reckon a man’s greatness by the, amount.
- that: he contributes to society, and that we may some time ..
‘in ‘the future practise. as our own, the motto of the old co-.
‘operatives: “The greatest ‘good ‘for”. ‘the greatest number. °
: Hach for. all, all. for each”; Production f for’ use instead of,
~~
“with the task béfore me of finding bread and butter-for a ©
_.. honestly, sincerely,. I. have- tried to” "do my little bit in the. |
.education-of my fellows. I look back over history and I'see °
“that ‘great things come from small beginnings, .the simple
-.\into hens and roosters arid the process continually going on, ..
‘ grows .and -develops, every day*that passes sees some new ~
- machine brought into existence and that every new machine:
- brought into existence means that. the world’s ‘machinery ~
is capable of prodycing human neéds in shorter time and,
t
“e
(fegig' . |). WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS) | oy! oe a
:. production for- profit.: Gentlemen, I have done my little bit.
‘In attempting to make for. working class. advancement; :I
‘, must leave it with you to judge whether or not in my.actions
amongst my fellow-workers, whether it be onthe job, in the -
Trades Union Hall, or on the floor of a Convention, wherever .
“it be, as a Trades Unionist, I have sought to advance :
0 érests of myself and my fellows along perfectly peace- ~
. abledind constitutional linés; whether-I have!been actuated
———by-criminal-motives;-whether-or-not-in-my-work-as-a-mem="—
ber of a political party the same holds good; ‘whether/in
doing that I have honestly set before myself—-making mis-. - -.
takes, perhaps, and the man that néver made a mistake ~~
. never-made anything !—set before myself the task of: hon- .
' estly. seeking to explain to my fellows the cause of those. :
things in human society, explain to them the.nature of these ~~
‘admitted. evils, of. these social problems, -'to show- them °
whether or not there is a solution’ ©
t
a’,
_ I look.back over the development of the human race.
-- We talk about contentment and the learned counsel for the | .
Crown-makes a strong point out of the gospel of content- -
ment. If the outlook of our-fotefathers for ages had been * “
along. the lines. suggested by the counsel. for the Crown in : *
his little homily .on contentment, gentlemen, we would still -
have been’ one with our forefathers, blue-painted savages, .
- fishing in coracle’on the rivers: of Britain for a living, or ~--
‘possibly meandering along the’ mud-flats of.the Mediter-
-ranéan, or, slowly moving on the’ banks of the Nile. It has.
‘been said that- discontent is‘the father of progress; it ig: =
_. certain that human society has progressed,-and itis further
' --certain, gentlemen of the jury, that human society has pro- |
‘-gressed more in the last ‘quarter of a century than possibly: >:
in the preceding one*hundred years. . Looking back over'-
’ history, then, I see a history.of struggle. “I see Rome in the -..
days of.her zenith, Rome, mighty Rome, with her warriors,
-the fame of whom had reached to the length and breadth of ~
; - the then known world, with her. philosophers of the great- -
‘est; with her scientists: leading the world’s thought; with ..
‘’. her statesmen the profoundest; and yet, in the very-hour.of -
. Rome’s greatness, that disease-which:had:eaten the vitals.
‘of previous wealthy societies. was gnawing at the vitals of.” .
: Rome, Let us see if it is gnawing at the vitals of our society, ~~’
.. gentlemen? The poet, Goldsmith, describes that condition —-
- where this disease was eating the vitals out of the Roman —
ONG
“PRITCHARD'S ADDRESS. TO JURY. - - 213 oe
Emp! e: “Where wealth. accumulates and men decay. san
- Rome renit down, gentlemen, because of. that disease, right -
-_at atime. when ‘apparently she was at the zenith of her ©
’ power; when Attila, with his Huns, and Alaric, with ‘his -
. barbarian horsemen,’ who carried: with. them their day’s | _
_ supply. of dried meat hanging to their saddles,- “a new. power - a
“that Rome never-recked of, until theré came that titanic .. -
- struggle on the ‘plains of Chalon, both sides claiming victory__:
~cand-neithér side capablé of recuperating, while out of the
~ downfall: of Rome arose another society. -Can’ we learn: less- 7:
.ons from history? m .
: . ” Vhave dealt a tittle, “when I opened: Festerday aiorning, .--
.. with the position taken by the eminent astronomer and:
- physicist, . Galileo. When Dr. Harvey discovered the nature °°"
_‘the old scientist of. the Roman .Church, Copernicus, wrote
‘his book bearing that terrible title, “De "Revolutionibus,” in
7 ‘which he set himself against the prevailing ideas on astron-
.-omy,‘he dared to set himself agginst the’ learned ignorance
of that day’ and against officialdom. Yet,though he was
* positive his analysis was correct, he had ‘to send his. book
. toa Norwegian by the namé of Osidnder, and he died with--.
” Out-even ‘knowing that! the book had been published, and .
.- that in order to save himself Osiander had ‘written ‘a~pYe- .
“face to:the work inf ‘which he.made it appear that Coper>-—~
‘ nicus had written this. and that the theories put. forward ..
“were only hypothetical, only make-believes, were not-true”
Emight add-instance upon instance of men back in ‘pistory ;
who suffered, were sneered at, were crushed. oS
- You have: heard Mr. Queen; you: have heard: Mr. ‘vena;
° you: have seen us all for the last eight weeks; you have
“seen us, possibly, gentlemen, with a little spirit of. fire, tem-. -
*"‘per, upon occasions, but I think you- have been able fo judge’ ,
-, the character of the’ men who are now before :you.. The- .
. Crown may contend. all it-likes; we contend the opposite,
’
: Hon. from one of the greatest. of the modern’ French writers, a
\. -of the blood stream in the human system, he was so afraid © | :.
of official criticism, gentlenien, that he waited two decades”
": before making known his discovery to human society. When , --”
-*whose analysis of certain.things have proven to be correct: 7 a
- gentlemen. Mr. Andrews, when. he:concluded, gave a pretty i a
‘Jittle: poem ‘written :by some lady from St. Dunstan’ 8 Hos- « *.°
pital Tf-T-may be permitted, I am ‘going to give.you'a quota- '~
ga, WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS .
ww
‘Anatole France, -on “Education,” a ‘spect delivered at a.- ?
-congress of teachers at Tours this last-year, because I -can- .
_ not ‘find, myself; anything much better which summarizes __-
my entire position. It is beyond the ability of any man to -
“wade through all this. vast mass of documents’and take- ©
every single thing and say: “Here, we have.met the charge -
here,” and not-leave some one point. where the Crown may
come back and pick at this and-pick- at that-and-say-—“Pritch
ard did not deal with this because he could not.” .I have: _
dealt with what I considered, gentlemen, the most iniportant
things and I shall be satisfied with your judgment as to my ~
. dealing with these questions;. the question of constitutional
action; with my view of constitutional history; of my posi- _-
‘tion respecting parliamentary activity.and the.position of a.
working class political party in that regard as-far as our ~.
constitution is concerned; and as far as other countries may.
concerned’ I must deal with those other countries accord: -
to the conditioris as I see. them there, and I explained ~~.
that ohe thing, I think, to the best of my ability, as to what
we meant when we said i in our “Manifesto”: “For one coun-- -°
-'try it may be the ballot; for another the mass strike; for’ _..
another insurrection,” and I took the countries one after —_
another, the country with a constitution and an ever extend- .-
- ing franchise and then a country like the ramshackled
‘Empire of Austria-Hungary with the people, the proletariat-~ -
under the heel of a military jack-boot, where such semblance.
of a franchise as, existed -was only an empty: shell. Then,
gentlemen, ‘in concluding, I summarize my position in these - ”
‘ words, of: Anatole France, the foremost ‘man~in liberal:-;
‘thought and literature in Frarice today. He is speaking to
’ teachers. In the hands of teachers .of today, gentlemen, lies
‘the destiny of your children and mine. Mr.‘Ivens told you: ©
that he: was. staggered, when he found conditions as _ they.
‘
_ exist in working. class homes. .Gentlemen,. Iam going to ask. 7
‘you right in the close'of my address: to assume something. :
‘more than those conditions which staggered Mr. Ivens, as. *.
he says, when he found them; to assume that’ somewhere ~':
-between the erid of the battle of Waterloo and the declaring —-
of war between Russia and Japan I appeared upon the scene...
- of human ‘activity. I cannot give evidence, but Iam going . -.
- to ask you to.assume that somewhere’ between those two.: .,
dates I came along, and gentlemen, Mr. Ivens was- stagger- |
_ ed. But I staggered into those conditions—I do not think it“:
_isa matter of giving evidence—in the. year, 1888, in the’...
- , -
ry
. -BRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO. JURY 215
industrial ‘section of South-east Lanéashire, “You might. not
know much of the conditions there. Ido. We talk of fathers ~
- in this court whether we have fathers or not. An explosion .
_ takes place in’a coal mine, 1885 or 1886, in the Clifton Hall
_ Colliery, in. Pendlebury,- Lancashire, two or three years .-
before I was -born. “My father was one of the last men to -
~_gomie out alive “Why? Coals -Mines’-Regulations-Act_violated
- because of greed for profit.. But I will be‘done with that,
. gentlemen, and give you the summary of my position ‘in. -
__ ‘these words ; my: position honestly. -I have held and accepted..
for some'Years the position I have briefly attempted to out-°
_ line to you and: shall I now shrink from the possible conse- -
- quences of-such acceptation?’ ‘Perhaps, I, even as'Bruno, can
: look my prosecutor in the face and say: “Perhaps you are
_more afraid of me as you ‘pass sentence than I am of you a
-in receiving it. . . .
~ ;
. No more industrial rivalries—this i is , what I am honest-
H striving for, gentlemen, “no more industrial rivalries, no -: €
* more wars; work and peace. Whether we wish it or no, the |
“hour has come when ‘we must be citizens of:the world or-.see - —
_all civilization perish. My. friends, permit me to utter a . |
‘most ardent wish,” said Anatole-France-to the teachers,
“a wish’which it is necessary for me to express too rapidly .
and ‘incompletely, but whose primary jdea.seems to me cal- --
culated-to appeal to all generous ‘natures. . I wish, I wish
“with all my heart’ that a delegation of the teachers of all ~
» nations might soon. Join the Workers: Internationale in order’
*.to prepare in-common-a universal form of education: and--
~‘advise as to methods of: sowing in young minds ideas from
‘which would spring. ‘the peace of the world and’ the union of :
‘People, |” wes a eee,
Coa he
Reason, wisdom: “intelligence; forces of - the mind and Lf
’ heart, whom I have always devoutly. invoked, come-to me,
". aid me, sustain my feeble voice, carry it, if that. ‘may.be,.to..-: - -
“- all the peoples of the world and diffuse it everywhere. -where- :
> there.are’men of good-will to hear the ‘beneficient truth. - tee
. Anew order. of things is born, the powers of evil die poisoned .
- by their crime. -The greedy and the cruel, the devourers-of
.: people, are. bursting with. an‘indigestion of blood. However, _
-". sorely stricken by the sins of their ‘blihd or corrupt masters,
mutilated, decimated, the proletarians remain erect; they .
- will u unite to form one universal proletariat and we shail’ see (:
ff
I a aor frVorea to, eee oe . : : 7 ty
Moe TOR tt rn 2 Lo o
a6 er WINNIPEG sratke TRIALS: a Q.
“Suifilled the “great: Socialist prophecy, “The union. of the -
workers will ‘be the} Peace: of the world.”- Do te te a
“use such’ talents. as. they pesnese. to brine, ‘about the ‘Way
- _ when the sword in reality. shall be. beaten-into, ‘the. plough-.
share. I do not,want to afflict you with.memories that. have *:
- geared my: ‘mind from childhood. ..One. thing’ I'-desire—for-
.- myself I am not.making a plea—but; gentlemen,- if arly suf-:
. feringcan be passed on to my carcass. and. in-its passing --
y,children can be saved from what ‘I ‘passed through: as-a.:
pha, I am satisfied. Look at’all that, is.in this_case‘now}; oe
Stake it to pieces in your-own_ “mind; use your. own t judement.
- shall be satisfied, gentlemen. I: am, satisfied... .
‘And standing béfore. you now, on ‘the thieshold of. the’ a
parting of the ways, one path leading, maybe, to the con: ~~
- eréte-bound and iron-clad: obscurity. of-the penitentiary,and:
the other leading’ out to. life, to- comparative . liberty, : tos?
: wife ‘and, children ‘and ‘such home as a. _workingman:--may-..':
:- possess, I want to: ‘tell _you,. gentlemen, . Standing- at’ that
“point, with a mind.clear‘to myself and before-my “fellows; “I
can say. truthfully: “I-have done nothing. of which.I am:~’
7 ashamed ; Ihave said nothing for which.I feel: I” ‘need. apol
gize.” Gentlemen; -in-so' far as:my:poor self. is “conterned
; = this case is in your hands. Iam satisfied. “And in parting,*
“let me tell you that what T- have done; T-have- ‘done, and-in |
_stating ‘that-I want you ‘to carry: this: -with ‘you: as coming:
“from the ‘inxiermost recesses-of my being:” ‘What Lhave: ‘done,”
I have done in good. faith; in. sincerity, and, from‘ my.,own'
lo “standpoint, from the purest of motives. I thank: ‘you, -geritle::
- men, for the patience: you have, shown i in. listening 4 to me for:
"this last-two. days. SS a a
°-" PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS*TO-SURY <7 aay os.
© Kilamazoo Story
Nome: —The “Kilemazoo” pace soferrd “to: Several * -
we
‘and a‘ bere given in full. rie _
“I-mist: congratulate my: ‘Jearned friend upon n having delivered’ a.
"singularly ; able as well as ‘resourceful ‘address: He madé a ‘telling array.
“of his evidence and it cannot have. ed to-have impressed. you. . ‘Un-
fortunately for him, I “think it. cwas- too adroit and too, ingenious and ”
7 revealed that. he. ‘felt the mecessity of using. ‘and mé ipulating the
evidence i ina’ way that would support his. theories rather\than- ‘to. allow, :.
the -evidencé, to. tell its own ‘story, because I think the Crown’ 8 case i3, aI we :
“exclusively inade. up of.8 “perverted arrangement of-facts to suit ideas:
‘that’have no existence. except. in-the mind of the counsel. Fx can illus- eo tes
ate the’ Crown's Position by. story, | he Tee a aon
‘The story i is that: -passeigers on a 5 fexry boat in New York barbor- a
“were attracted by-the: actions. of a fellow-passenger who was keeping _ _
“elosé ‘guard “ “of ‘a box he:was “Carrying. | ‘Every few moments he“was-* *"
noticed. “to. be® pressing down: the’ lid as though something inside was ~
trying | ‘to. escape. : The’ passengers gathered about. him and- asked: him - |.
What: the box contained.” He immediately commenced to show great oo,
“alarm. ‘and. told" them te: keep away: from him. ” That only’ made them" -'-
ore. ‘curious. ‘He said:. “I can’t “tell | you. what there is inside, ‘because.
§£:1.do it will make. a panic’ on the. boat. and there’ will be'a frightful ——
sloss of life, and i in the, confusion’ the box ‘will ‘be upset, and we will all a .
)- destroyed.” 2 “That: only- made: the passengers. more curious than ever: 2. |,
‘Well,"-he. ‘aid, § “come-close. to me:so that ean. whisper it. ‘I have in-
ide the terrible :Kilamazoo, the: only.’ one that. “has ever been in*cap-
ity,; ‘and’ “what i is’ worse, it is.the female of, the species and it is more ©
“deadly” t n. the “male.””: AN: “the. “passengers | fied from’ him in. terror a
except’ one: ° “He “wanted further. information: He: Said: “What -do. you . - -
‘eed. ‘the “animal | ‘with?”. “That,” said the owner of. the box, ia*my « “
greatest, trouble. All its -life’ ‘ine -the-'wilds of. Africa, ‘it- has lived on. Loe :
snakes: and: ‘gorillas... At. cwill, *have no- other food.’ ‘Fortunately, T- have ©
ther ‘who - ‘drinks ‘ “8: great- ‘deal - and every. day or “two: ‘he has ‘the .”
TOYS, and ‘sees “things. like. baboons, and "boa. ‘constrictors. “When' he .
“dees; i capture ‘them, ‘and | give’ ‘them’ ‘to my Kilamazoo. ” “But,” : said’ ~
he® questioner; ‘those’ are. _ imaginary’ creatures. You, can’t feed® it with
ag WINNIPEG STRIKE TRIALS
‘those. ” “Well,” said the owner of. ‘the pox, “since you ‘are’ so: darned a
curious, I ‘don’t mind. telling you that’ what I have in the. box ‘is. an ©
" imaginary Kilamazoo. ” Gentlemen, if you will take the case. ‘out of -_-
-the hands -of the “Crown counsel and lift up the lid and explore its -
contents -you: will find that they have been- trying” to ‘temrity us with . -
“an cena Kilamazoo. on -
oo what he considered, unwarranted rulings 2 and interruptions. «. :
_ ‘the capitalist, . and they aré.as much interested as-is the capitalist in -
“and he can be leading counsel for the Crown in a galaxy of brilliant”
_ +: there should be unrest and upheavals. in any country under, the sun;
, not even in Russia, land of bondage, though it was. :
7 the court would not ‘allow him to: read the article on Social-
quite a. mastery of the case. and only after repeated inter-.
r. Pritchard has madé the. remarks ‘that he has ‘not mack ase
for’ ayers because they have what he calls “an indoor mind.”- Well,
~ he is right, if he means that lawyers are ignorant of the meaning of, -
great world ‘movements that ‘are shaking mankind out of ‘its slumber -. -
and, its contentment with its ‘old point ‘of ‘view. towards human rela-_ .
tions and the” structure of: sgciety. Lawyers like to keep things - aso
they are. They are familiar with them, they ‘understand them, and ..
they are perplexed ‘and ill at ease if you suggest to-them-that great | ~
. changes” ‘are taking ‘place that will make the world a different _place a
from what. it has been. In the scheme_of things as they are at pres- m
ent some lawyers have as good a ‘shar’ of the good things: of life as
holding the lid tight on ‘existing conditions. The lawyer has, more.
. independence than “most” men; he has. self-respect, because he’ is‘
nobody’s workman, and he ‘has influence in his community . and Pos.- -
- sibly in a-wider sphere. Roads of ambition and success are open to
him., He can take his part. in important cases, such, as state trials, ~~~
lawyers. He can’ look forward to the | grave and quiet-dignity of a ~
position on the benchmBy reason of his training’ and education he can,
__be’a leader i in public affairs, having his place in Parliament and” help- ”
. ing to mould ‘the Laws and perhaps guide the destinies of his country. iy
A reconstruction ' and ‘readjustment of society is not needed by him” |.
for he has.no grievance of any kind.’ He would. not desire even to.
have the judges different from what they are. .He cannot, therefore, ; a
understand” “why any one is discontented, and he- does :not see. . why:
* After speaking. for about nine hours, and h having. been’ _
interrupted -by the court ‘some. thirty. times, Mr. Trueman. os
finally sat down and refused to proceed with his speech when: ~’
ism ‘from the Encyclopedia Britannica: -Mr Trueman showed”
. ruptions by the court finally ‘sat down as a protest against: -
Le. Ws . i . oe \.
: |. vw. yo, -
~ PRITCHARD’S ADDRESS TO JURY \ 219 |
__W. A Pritchard was stopped by the ‘court from, quot-
- ting the Britannica on Marx. -
‘The ‘reason given 1 for these interruptions was to the.
t
-
“effect that “that was notthe kind of Socialism that we have.
to deal ‘with er” >
ma y W. W.'L. -
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